Who You are to Me
by Yuschton
Summary: It wasn't sunny nor was it a gray day in DC. It was more like a day that couldn't be more normal than any other day. It wasn't the first of anything, it wasn't a Friday but most of all, it wasn't sunny. I always imagined this day as a sunny day. Bright, full of color and warm. PS: I suck at summary's. PPS: My native tongue is not English, pls help me correct mistakes.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Alexandria „Lexa" Woods

It wasn't sunny nor was it a gray day in DC. It was more like a day that couldn't be more normal than any other day. It wasn't the first of anything, it wasn't a Friday but most of all, it wasn't sunny.

I always imagined this day as a sunny day. Bright, full of color and warm. But it wasn't, it was ordinary, I got up, took a shower had breakfast, filled my to go cup with coffee and locked the door behind me. I got into my car and fought my way through DC traffic. At the office I greeted Joseph, the guard on duty. I had a short talk with Denis, the intern this year and then vanished into my office, painfully aware of all the left over papers I had to fill out because of the shooting during my last case. I didn't fire one bullet, but still, paperwork for me, for I was the lead Agent of the unit. I cursed inwards, nobody got killed, sure, but it would be less work if they did. Less paperwork. I pinched the bridge of my nose, did I really just thought that? Not for the first time since I took the position in the DC field office was I asking myself what happened to me. I believe in the system, there is a reason it was worked out the way it was by people much smarter than me and I honer the rules we got 99% of the time, but from time to time my mind wonders, what for? I pushed the folder to the side and leaned back. My eyes wandered through the small office, just enough space for a table, my chair and two visitor chairs, a bookshelf at the side and the three boxes of files. The small window to my left catches my attention, soft light falls through it and tells me it's about time for a checkup. I take a deep breath and my eyes focus shifts from the outside to the reflection in the window. A women, medium height, blond hair and blue eyes stares back. God I am looking tired. The makeup covers the dark circles under my eyes well, but my hair falls flat and without much care on my back, my cheeks seem hollow and my mouth is pinched in a small line, without me doing anything. I really need some free days. Another deep breath, paperwork will have to wait a few minutes, such a shame. I push myself up, adjust my gun on the side so it sits comfortable again and close my jacket button. I am about to walk towards the door when it knocks. I check my watch, I am not late for the meeting. I sit back down, straighten my shoulders and call.

"Yes?"

The door opens and Denis looks at me with big eyes.

"I am sorry Ma'am, but there is a Special Agent Marcus Kane here to see you?"

I never heard the name, even though I am thinking hard. I nod towards Denis and close up the open folders in front of me. Denis takes a step back and a quite tall man with brown hair, nice cut face and calm eyes enters my office.

"Agent Griffin?" he asks politely

"Special Agent." I correct him and gesture towards a chair in front of me.

He simply nods in acknowledgment but does not sit down. He simply stands in the door and stares at me, like he was trying to find something out.

"How may I help you SA Kane?" I ask raising my brows slightly, he smiles.

"SSA Kane, SA Griffin and I must ask you to accompany me."

"May I ask where to?"

"You may, but I am not at liberty to tell." A smooth talker, I think to myself, but get my ass out of my chair anyway. It was not the first time I was asked to follow someone without knowing where to. Part of the job you might say, but I would argue part of being me. The point is I speak 16 languages, and most of the quite fluently.

"May I ask to what purpose I shall accompany you SSA Kane?" I check my pockets if I got everything I need.

"No SA Griffin, you may not, I am really sorry." He actually looks sorry with his half smile and hauled eyebrows. Now I am confused. If they needed me for my language abilities then they would have told me, no secret there. I straight my Jacket and walk towards the door while my brain starts running in overtime. Why should a SSA outside from the DC field office, for I know every SSA in the DC field office, need my presence somewhere he can't say? What for? I wrecked my brain if I did anything in the last months that might have been taken as against the law but nothing pops up.

Kane steps outside and walks towards the elevator, I follow and do not miss the second agent lining up behind me. He is not as tall as Kane, but he is sturdy for sure. His hair is cut really short which only emphasizes his receding hairline and he doesn't even bother trying to hide that he carry's two guns under his Jacket.

Message received.

The elevator arrives with a unusually loud ping and I turn back towards the office just in time to see SA Blake, my partner on most of my cases being pushed into his office by our supervisor. My eyes find Denis.

"Would you mind telling everybody that I will probably not be able to attend today's meeting?"

He nods, I turn and enter the elevator.

Downstairs my eyebrows shoot up, a complete SWAT Team, in full gear is awaiting us, securing the entry is another team. They do not raise their weapons at me, but I really don't feel comfortable right now. Kane starts walking and on auto pilot I follow. What the hell have I done to get such a treatment? They lead me to one of three cars parked outside, black SUV's just like my own. Kane gets in the back with me, while the other one takes a seat in the front.

"I am sorry SA Griffin, but I have to cover your head now." Kane informs me and holds a black hood in my face. I just nod, after all I am already in the car, getting away wont be possible anymore.

The drive isn't short. About three hours, though I have to admit my sense of time gets worse the longer I am wearing this stupid hood. Then we stop, I hear car doors open, I can feel how Kane moves and his hand on my arm as he helps me out of the car. I am lead a few steps, then a pair of metal doors close and someone removes the hood. I am taking a deep breath of fresh air and look around. I am in an elevator, a big one, and we are going down.

"Welcome to Blackside Nr. 7 SA Griffin." That voice is new, I turn around. A black man, neatly cut beard and kind eyes smiles at me.

"It is an honor, Sir?" I ask still unsure why the hell I am here in the first place.

"I am Jaha Wells, Director of this facility-" He answers at least one of my questions. "And you are here on special wish of Miss Woods, so I would not see it as an honor."

My eyebrows go up again.

"Miss Woods, Sir? I do not know any Miss Woods."

"Well, she seems to know you." Jaha answers, the elevator stops and the doors open. He steps out in front of me, Kane and the other one waiting for me to follow. I stay where I am, my eyes fixed on the wide space in front of me, about 20 People walk or run from left to right, people yell at each other, monitors are lighting the scenery, showing satellite images, the picture of a little girl and dozen other people I have never seen before. I feel a hand on my back and look back to see Kane gently pushing me to follow the Director and so I do. I follow the man in an office at the end of the room, where he and the other guy wait outside while Jaha takes a seat at his desk.

"Sit down Agent." he says while seemingly looking for something in his papers. I comply, hell what else should I do? I am god knows where in an, possibly, underground facility with at least two armed Agents and 20 plus I don't know many other People between me and the exit.

"Well what can you tell me about Miss Woods?" Jaha asks, a very thin folder in his hands.

"I have no idea who this Miss Woods is you are referring to, Sir." I answer honestly.

"You want me to believe that you have no Idea who Alexandria Woods is?" Jaha opens the folder in his hands.

"Alexandria Woods?" I ask "THE Alexandria Woods?" Jaha nods.

"My apologies Sir, I did not know you were referring to one of the most wanted criminals in the whole US. But I believe I do not understand your question."

"As I said, what can you tell me about her, SA Griffin?"

I clear my throat, something is really wrong here, why should I know anything beside common knowledge about this woman?

"I know that Alexandria Woods is a traitor to this country, she was in the Military Intelligence before she vanished and sold some very sensitive Information to the highest bidder. Ever since she has been on the wanted list." Jaha nodded and watched me attentive, but as I kept silent he turned his eyes towards his computer screen, typing and clicking away.

"Is that all you know?" he asks.

"Yes Sir, that is all the knowledge I posses about Miss Woods."

Jaha nods again. "Then tell me about yourself Agent."

"My name is Clark Elizabeth Griffin, I am 28..."

"I am absolutely capable of reading Agent, I did not ask for a resume."

"Then Sir, with due respect, what the hell are you asking for?"

Jaha looks at me again, a mixture of surprise and anger in his features.

"Well, when we are blunt, I am asking you why one of the most wanted criminals is giving herself up and then refuses to talk to anyone but you Agent."

My jaw falls open.

"I am sorry, what?" I ask.

"Exactly Agent." Is the only answer Jaha gives me before he turns his screen.

There in a cell like no other I have ever seen, chained to a chair with arms and legs sits a woman in a well tailored suit, long brown hair falling in waves down her shoulder, a few braids taming them. She looks straight in the camera with pricing green eyes and a content smile on her face.

I absolutely thought I would meet the love of my life on a sunny day.


	2. Don't Belive A Word

Chapter I

Don't Believe A Word

"I don't understand Sir, I have never seen this woman in my life, let alone had any contact in any other way with her. And I am pretty sure you checked every record I ever left behind, so you will soon know that I speak the truth."

"I already know that there is nothing in your records that can explain why she wants to talk to you Agent, what I don't know is what may have happened outside the records. For example the four months you spend in the Iran."

"I made my report about those four months Sir." Is all I answer. I really don't want to talk about that, I haven't even spoken to that stupid Shrink about it for real. It's one of those things that I rather forget.

"I know the reports, I want know what happens in your words."

My lips press together, I know they do, I can't help it.

"I was undercover, my cover blew, I was captured, I was saved."

Jaha looks at me for an unnerving amount of time. Then he shakes his head.

"Well SA Griffin, we don't have much time and we honestly don't have much of a choice. You will speak to Miss Woods, get the information we need and then we will see, won't we?" He stands up, somehow he seems taller now, also colder. He doesn't believe me. His eyes tell me he won't let me out of his sight and I don't like it. I also stand up.

"What information do you need from her Sir?" I am trying my best to sound calm.

"As I am pretty sure you saw outside a little girl has gone missing. She is the daughter of General Farrant, Woods claims she knows who has captured her and why."

"There were no ransom demands yet?" I ask matter of factly. This is better, this is what I know. A case and that woman is the key to solve it. I can handle that, I just can't think about why she just wants to talk to me.

"No, nothing. We only know that she was taken about 3 hours ago, from her dance class, the other students, 16 girls between 8 and 12, the teacher and two bystanders are dead. So no living witnesses." I need to gulp, a whole class of children dead to take one girl? That was indeed a strong message. 'We do not hesitate to kill'.

"Holy shit." It slips out before I can stop myself.

"You are free to say that loudly Griffin."

Jaha walks past me, opens the door to his office and talks shortly to Kane. He nods and turns towards me.

"Agent Kane will take you to her and fill you in on the details you need to know."

I nod and take my leave, Jaha closes the door after me, through the window in the door I can see how he takes his telephone and calls god knows who.

"Come on Griffin, time to get you in the loop." Kane puts a hand on my shoulder. I nod, remembering the girl who is missing. I scan the large space in front of me. The picture of the little girl now makes sense, she is the one that this task force is looking for. Kane turns to our right and starts walking.

"Anne Farrant, 11 years old, went missing about 6 hours ago. At the time of her abduction she was at her dance class, her class mates as well as her teacher are confirmed dead. We do not exclude terrorism." Kane passes a desk, nods at the Agent behind it, a young man, middle long hair that falls messily in his face and a pair of googles that hang around his neck, together with his too big looking cloth let him seem unusually wrong for this place.

"Green, you got the file?" Kane asks. The man looks up shortly and hands Kane a folder.

"Can't find anything on surveillance, checked in an 3 block radius." he says while returning to typing on his keyboard.

"Take another two blocks in, check and report." Kane responds and hands the folder on to me. I take a deep breath, I know what is in there, I hate the pictures, always hated them, non the less I open the folder. The first three pages are reports, dates and descriptions, a picture of Anne. The next pages are preliminary coroner reports of the victims. All the same, shot in the head at close range, from the pictures it looks like they were executed, side by side in a row. I take one of the pictures in my free hand.

"Were they all facing the mirror when they were shot?" I ask Kane. He nods.

"It seems so at least." He starts moving again, away from the havoc in the room, towards a heavy looking door. I put the picture back and move on in the file. The last two pages are about the suspects, not much to go on. A few known Terrorists, an angry ex-employee of the General and of course, Alexandria Woods. Sure, they can't take her out of the math. I stare at the sheet of paper in my hand, a name, a date of birth, a few facts concerning her assignments when she was with the military, but that was it.

"What exactly did Woods say?" I ask as I close the folder. Kane just slipped his ID-Card through the scanner and the door opens with a humming sound. Kane doesn't answer he just takes me through a hallway, no doors left or right, just a huge window towards I don't know what, it's blacked out, but I guess it's a control room of some sort.

"And this is all you have on her?" I try again.

He turns fully to the window and stretches his arms to both sides. Another humming sound and a little compartment opens just beneath the window. He takes the gun from his hip and places it in the case in front of him, which closes and vanishes in the wall, he then steps beside and winks me towards him.

"No, but this is all you need to know for now." he says. I turn and stretch my arms just as he did. For me also opens a compartment in the wall, I place my gun in it and face Kane again.

"So I got to find out where the girl is?" Kane nods and the wall behind him opens.

Together we enter a hanger sized room, armed guards are lined up at the walls and in the middle of it all stands a box. Two meters wide, maybe three meters long. Hugh windows are embedded into a steel frame and inside is nothing but a chair and, a little bit in the back, a toilette.

"Don't worry she can't see you yet." Kane says as he leads me to the left, through another door, where two Agents are working on things I can't identify.

"Collins, bring up the video from this morning." Kane leans himself against the back wall. Collins is a young man, brown half long hair in a messy style combed back, a soft cut face and a, even through his suit visible, well groomed muscular body, give him a actually quite handsome look. He tips a few times and then turns his screen towards me. I am watching the entrance area of the J. Edgar Hoover Building from an downward angle. I only need to wait for a few seconds, when a young woman with a briefcase enters the building and heads with confident, straight steps towards the receptionist. She talks to the man in the booth for a few seconds and hands him a passport, then she steps back, puts her briefcase down next to her, takes of her jacket and lays it neatly folded above, before she takes another two steps in the middle of the room, turns away from the door, kneels down and puts her hands behind her neck. A few seconds later at least a dozen agents surround the woman, weapons drawn and take her in custody.

"She gave her real passport." Collins says and turns the screen back towards himself. "The guard rang all the alarms as soon as he got the notification from the system that she is wanted by the US Government." He leans back in his stool and his eyes scan me from top to bottom.

"That was eight hours ago, since then all she said was the following, about seven hours ago." Kane nods towards Collins again. He makes a few clicks and turns the screen again, this time, he also boosts the audio up. I stare at Woods, in the chair in the box, just like the picture Jaha showed me, just like she is sitting right now. She stares up straight in the camera.

"In three hours the daughter of General Farrant is going to be abducted, I can tell you who and why, but from this point onward I will only speak to Special Agent Clarke Elizabeth Griffin."

Even through the speakers I can hear the light Australian accent, her voice has a power in it of someone who is used to command and be obeyed, but most of all I recognize the way she plops the 'C' in my name. I couldn't say for the love of god where from, but I knew instantly that I heard my name said like this before. I suppress the shudder that wants to run down my back and focus back on my task.

"What about the briefcase she had with her?"

"We can't open it. Never seen anything like it before, air tight and not just in a figure of speech."

"Can I hear the recording of what she said again?" I ask Collins and as he nods I close my eyes. There it is again, this voice. It's dark, a smooth sound in it. This woman is absolutely confident, a bad sign. I am taking the folder back in hand and reopen it, checking the few information's I got about the woman. There it is, born in Atlanta, no explanation for the accent. I go father down, comp through her assignments in the military, nothing close to Australia either.

"Was Woods for a longer time in Australia?" I ask and look at Kane and Collins. Collins just shrugs his shoulders but Kane shows one of his small smiles.

"Why do you ask?" he pushes himself of the wall and takes the folder from my hands.

"The accent." I look at two confused faces. "It's subtle, but it's there. Most people who are social chameleons pick up accents fast, they loose them just as fast, but sometimes you are lucky." I shrug my shoulders, it's nothing in my opinion, listen and you learn a lot about a human being, it has always been like this, no matter who I interviewed, in the end they told me everything I needed to know, if willingly or not.

"So you are some kind of language expert?" Collins asks and stands up, fixing his jacket.

"No, I just like to listen to people, you would be astonished what you can learn by simply listening."

There is another one of Kane's smiles. I can never say what it means. It could be a 'good thing you know this stuff' smile, but it could also be a 'got you really close to my trap' smile. I hate it.

"Well then Griffin, start listening, we need answers."

"One more question, had Woods any indication of time while she was confined here?"

"No, no clocks, the guards are switched at irregular intervals and no one talked to her besides me and Director Jaha."

I nod and turn towards the door.

"Well then, shall we?"

As I walk up to the box, as I named that thing in front of me in my head, I study the posture and expression of the woman inside it. She sits upright, her back straight, her shoulders back, as best as she can in her restrains. Her eyes are closed and her features relaxed, if it wasn't for the light tap of her right index finger, nearly invisible for someone who wasn't looking for it, she would seem like she fell asleep. One of the guards step forward and put a chair down for me, about two and a half meter away from the box. I take a seat and wait. It doesn't take more than three seconds and Alexandria Woods opens her eyes, those piercing eyes, I suppress the shudder that wants to go down my back.

"You got rid of your extensions." she says and her whole body seems to relax and she smiles, while her eyes wander over my body. "But you got thin and you look stressed, maybe when all of this is over you want to take a vacation? I have heard that Iceland is lovely this time of the year."

To be honest my jaw just dropped open, in a figure of speech. In reality I got my shit together before it fell. Why the hell would this woman, which I have nerve seen before talk to me like she was one of my best friends?

"Well, I don't know what you want to prove by telling me something everyone who saw a picture of me from about six weeks could say, but I need to admit, you got me there for a second." I answer, my voice is calm, good, that is the first step.

"How about we start at the beginning, like normal humans do? My name is Special Agent Clarke Griffin, it is nice to meet you."

" _What the hell Griffin, we don't have time for games, just ask her what we want to know."_ the voice in my ear shortly distracts me. Collins seems to be younger than he looked and of course Woods noticed.

"Well, it seems like your colleague does not agree with your kind way of treating me Clarke." she says with a smile. "But since no one shall say I am not a woman of my word..." she let's the words stand a while, taking her time focusing her gaze on me. This time I can't stop the goose bums that go down my back. Her smile becomes a bit wider, at this moment she seems to be just a woman in a chair, with no worries in the world but if I would like her. She takes her eyes of me and raises her head so she can look straight into the camera in the corner.

"Agent Kane, the man you are looking for is Jacob Tramlick, he arrived in the USA three days ago, under the name of Johnathan Riley. He landed right here in Washington DC, with a plan in his suitcase to destroy the foundation of your intelligence operations in Beirut and therefore Lebanon. He should be holding Anne in Westmore now, the code to the case you have been trying to open is 77394489, in there you will find everything you need."

Her gaze wanders back to me, the smile has vanished for a moment, her eyes cold and hard, but the next second it is back.

I hold her gaze, I will not become small here, even if I am feeling really tiny right now.

"And why should I believe that to be the truth? Who says that you are not lying to me? What prove can you give me that it wasn't you who took Anne?" I am praying with my whole heart that Kane and Collins are checking that combination right now.

"Believe me?" Woods starts laughing, "You shouldn't believe a word I am saying Clarke, after all, I am a notorious criminal! And all criminals are liars, deep inside we all lie."

"Well then I guess we are done here then, since I can't trust you to tell the truth this whole talk is absolutely useless to us." I stand up and turn around, leaving the woman behind me. Okay, good Griffin, leave with the last word, don't turn, you hold the reigns here.

"Vash otets gorditsya vami.*" I hear the words and I immediately freeze.

"I forgot to tell you before, sorry, he wants me to tell you." I turn around and stare in this stupidly smiling face of this stupid woman who, with just four words turned everything around.

I look closer at the smile, it seems honest, it reaches the eyes, the small wrinkles around them, the dim light they seem to spread, a honest smile alright, but why? My focus goes back to the woman in her complete self. She is still relaxed, so everything still seems to go her way? She has nothing more to barging with, so why is she so relaxed?

"My father is dead." I say coldly. She crossed a line there and it does not help my anger that she is still smiling, still relaxed, still irritating the shit out of me. She says nothing, just sits there, smiles and stares at me. God, I hate this day.

" _Griffin, the case is open, get in here."_

That voice was Jaha's and my feet start moving before my brain can even begin to understand why. I just knew that I needed to get away from this woman who knew my father, or at least she said so. Didn't she say not a second ago that I shouldn't believe a word she is saying? I open the door to the monitor room. Jaha stands in the back, talking to an Agent who types furiously away, Kane stands next to Collins, who in turn stares at an open suitcase in front of him. I walk up to Kane and take a peek in the case as well. Inside is a folder, someone opened it and I see satellite images of a building in Downtown, a few notes written at the side. But the image isn't what holds Collins attention, what has him so fixed is a black case, not bigger than a jeweler's box, with an fingerprint scanner for a key and a small note attached to it.

'For Clarke Griffin'

Oh great, another hint to make me look suspicious as hell. My hand wanders to the box with a mind of it's own and I press my thumb on the scanner. The red light lights up, but nothing else happens. I try my index finger, also nothing.

"Well, nice gift if you can't open it." Collins grins up to me, I involuntary have to think of one of those beach boys from TV.

"We dispatched units to the house in question, Kane, you take lead." Jaha moves towards our little group. Kane nods, turns and leaves, it has something militaristic.

"Collins, I want you with the back up, so get moving, Agent Griffin, we need to talk about this." He points at the black box. All I can do is nod. What else was there to do? This morning paperwork was all I had in mind and not even nine hours later I was in some secret underground, still wandering about that, facility god knows where in America with the Director of this task force, which belonged to an undefined Agency, a small little box and a famous criminal who seems to think that she knew me and or my father somehow. My father, who is dead. Who died when I was 14. Who was my hero since I knew what a hero was.

"Are you coming Griffin?"

I look up, Collins has left and Jaha waits in the door for me, he holds the black box in his hands, I didn't even notice he picked it up.

"Sorry Sir, spacing out. Today was.." I search for the right word. "...a lot?"

Jaha nods, it seems like he understands, at least a little bit.

"Today is not over."

"So you have no idea what this is?"

Jaha asks for the at least hundreds time now, pointing for the hundreds time towards the small black box and for the hundreds time I give him the same answer:

"No Sir, I have never seen it before. I also still don't know what Woods wants with me, but it is obvious that she did not pick me on a whim, she at least did a physical research on me. I had no contact to her that I would be aware of and I do not know what connection she has to my dead father." I rattle the facts down, the last 30 minutes we talked about the same things over and over again. I am getting a headache. A knock at the door of his office stops Jaha from forming another question I already answered.

"Sir, they are in position and ready to breach. Confirmation about at least six armed man was made."

'Well hello there' I think as I look at the woman who stands in the door. A beautiful woman indeed. Long, nearly black hair, tied together in a messy ponytail, dark eyes and a definitely Latin American origin together with a slim figure give a stunning view.

"Alright, let's get to it. Griffin, you stay at my side." Jaha stands up, he hands the woman the black box. "Take a look at that and see if you can get it open, won't you Reyes?" He says, the woman nods, takes the box and takes her leave. There I recognize that she limps a little bit. She also heads for the right side of the grant space, but heads up to the towards the elevator, passes it and vanishes from my eye side. I follow Jaha towards the big screens to the left, where now, instead of the pictures and satellite images a video feed is displayed, the helmet cam of one of the SWAT team, I would guess. It shows me a townhouse, nothing big or fancy, just a usual house.

"Everything is set, the teams are ready Sir." Green comments and hands Jaha an ear-com. Jaha placed it in his ear and looked up to the screen.

"Team leader, are we clear?" he asks.

"Yes Sir, Agent Kane and Agent Collins arrived 10 minutes ago, confirmed sighting of 3 heavily armed man,and 3 more with light weaponry. We have no positive for the hostage though."

The mans voice was calm, strategic.

"Good, breach and report back."

Jaha crossed his arms before his chest and waited. The room went silent as we watched how the main team crossed the street and breached the door. They sweep the rooms, the armed man who refused to surrender where shot with short bursts of fire. Everything seemed to went fine until a scream roared through the speakers.

"Bomb!" Not even a second later shot a flash through the picture, then the connection broke. I stared at the screen where white and black dots fought for dominance. The silence that covered the entire staff was now deafening and only lasted two seconds.

"Team leader report!" Jaha said calmly. Behind him Green hammered at his keyboard, another man ran to a different desk, rewired a device which purpose I couldn't guess. Jaha turned to a young Agent in the back.

"Murphy, get Kane or Collins on the line, fast." he still sounded so calm, so controlled, in this very moment I admired him.

"Team leader, report in!" he repeated.

"Sir?" Green stopped hammering, his face was torn between pain and disbelief. "We can't reach Team Lead because his com is offline. It is not responding to any frequency."

"Sir, I can't reach either of them, not over com, not over phone."

"Try again!" Jaha barked.

"Sir?" Green said quietly. "I don't think..."

"Green, get Reyes, she is to help you, we need communication back up, asap!" Jaha interrupted and then turned to me. He looked at me for a mere second, before walking straight towards the secure door behind which the box lay.

"Inform me immediately if we got word from any of them, Murphy, you are in charge for communication with the fire department, first aid and the local police. Move it people!"

He was already halfway to the door when my feet found the strength to move. Jaha didn't even seem to care, if I followed or not. He moved past the window with a glare and the second door at the end of the hallway just opened, I fell in a jog to catch up to him.

"Did you know that?" Jaha called in the room, walking straight towards Woods, I stayed in the shadow behind him, not sure if he wants me there right now.

Woods just looked at him. She seemed to know who he is, but no word came over her lips, she just looked at him with a curious eyes.

"I asked you if you knew that there was a bomb in the house?!" Jaha said and came to a stop before the door of the box.

Woods brows furrowed, her eyes focusing on a point on the floor, she thought hard about something, but even now, she remained silent.

"Answer me!" Jaha nearly screamed, the calm vanished from his demeanor. Woods looked back up to him, her eyes cold and calculating.

"Director Thelonious Jaha, I already told you, but I will be so polite and repeat myself, for you seem to be in distress. I will only talk to Special Agent Clarke Elizabeth Griffin. As I presume she will still be in this facility, so get her here now and I will tell you what I can."

"I am here." I step forward, even though everything in my body warns me not to do so. My instincts tell me that this woman there is dangerous and that this box she is in will not keep me safe from her.

"Ah Clarke, good to see you again." she smiled at me and then turned to Jaha. "No I did not know there was a bomb in the house. But if there was then you need to let me out of here."

"Excuse me?" Jaha took a step back.

"If there was a bomb in the house you need me to help you, because that means that Tramlick works with a friend of mine, and I am afraid I won't be able to sell this friend out to you. So if you want to know where Tramlick holds the girl, you let me get the information."

"Who tells me that it wasn't you who abducted the girl and this is just a ruse to get you out f here?"

" Thelonious, I have been on the run for 15 years and you didn't even had my dust in your nose. What reason could I have to give myself up just to run away again?"

"To get to our intelligence." Jaha said coldly. Woods laughed, fully with a surprising warmth in it.

"Oh Thelonious, I am absolutely happy with my own intelligence, which I do believe is in many ways more accurate then yours."

Woods smile kept plastered on her face, as her eyes switched between me and Jaha, then, as if she concluded something, she let out a deep breath.

"How about we try this another way, Thelonious? You remember the Farnsworth incident in 2008? You all assumed it was a single bombing, work related, an ex-employee blowing off steam. Wrong, the Satchmore fiasco? You laid wrong there too. Each and everyone of those acts of terrorism was committed by one and the same person, the same person who now holds Anne Farrant right now. If you don't believe me, fine, but I ask you to check the flight manifests for Johnathan Riley. Like clockwork he always arrives three days before each of his 'statements' in the city at question."

Jaha stared at her for a time, then he turned around, his face as he looks at me calm again.

*"Vash otets gorditsya vami ." - "Your father is proud of you."


	3. A Coat?

Chapter II

A coat?

"So the plan is we chip her, let her go to her contact, safe the girl and she comes back into our custody?" the FBI's deputy director leaned back in his chair. Pike was stocky man with nearly no hair on his head, his suite a little bit to thight.

"Yes Sir," Jaha turned the folder in front of him on the table around. "nothing that Alexandria Woods has said so far was a lie. We could confirm that Johnathan Riley, that entered Washington three days ago, does not exist. We also confirmed the story's she told about Farnsworth and Satchmore. If you know what you are looking for it is actually really obvious."

"And what about Griffin?" Pike asks, turning his gaze to me.

"We know nothing." Jaha also glances at me. "Well, that is not correct, we do know that there is nothing in Agent Griffins records, history or anywhere else that would cause us any suspicion, but we have no idea what Woods plans with or for her are."

"If I may Sir?" I ask carefully. I am fully aware who the man is, sitting a the visitors chair at Jahas office. He is the boss of my bosses boss and I sure as hell know that to get where he is you need to be an excellent politician. He waves his hand at me, dismissive, arrogant. I don't like him, I still have respect for his position.

"I am fully aware that for you I am a wild card and I know that my words mean little to nothing to you, I also know that my records are not flawless, I made some huge mistakes in my career, but what should interests you the most is, that even though I made those mistakes I am still part of the FBI, so as flawed as some of my actions may have been, I never stepped outside the line." Pike nods, but still doesn't seem to care.

"Miss Griffin," I clench my jaw. When ever he talked about or with me he did that. Called me 'Miss' like I am some civilian that has no idea what it's government is doing. "I understand what you wish to say, but" 'You don't give a shit, right?' the thought shoots through my head and sadly, the logic part of my brain comments, that's not even far fetched. "as you can hopefully understand, I can't take your word for it." I suppress the urge to face-palm me. "None the less we will take the deal. It's win win for us. No one aside the Agents on side and a few others know we have Woods in custody. Even if she runs, no one knows we ever had her." Pike stands up, picks up a pen from Jaha's desk and signs the papers in front of him.

"The thing with the bomb is cleared too, we told the press it was a gas leak, they took it, the two dead SWAT Agents are on there way home, Collins and Kane are on their way back, do you wish to speak to them as well Sir?" Jaha asks politely, it is clear from his tone that he doesn't want Pike to talk to anyone in here more than absolutely necessary.

"No, all good. I am just glad they are safe. My condolences to the family's of the dead. Who is in charge for communication?"

"Murphy is, Sir."

"Good, he handled stuff like this before, I remember the name." Pike stands there for a moment, thinking? Maybe. I don't know, I couldn't read him if my life depended on it.

"All there is left to say is that if anything goes south Thelonius, it will be on you."

Pike leaves and I can't help but stare after him. The urge to punch him got stronger and stronger with each word that left his mouth.

"Well then Griffin, if you would sign here to give up your live." Jaha gives me a pen and smiles sadly. I take it and for a second I am thinking about running away. I am not sure my brain should make decisions like this at nearly 1 am in the morning. But then I remember the girl, how scared she must be and I hate myself for even thinking I shouldn't do it. God, I wouldn't be able to look at myself if I refused to help her for reasons I couldn't guess anyway.

So I sign, I sign this peace of paper which forbids me to talk to anyone outside of this task force about what I am doing or what I learn here.

"Now that I bought the washing machine, let's get to business." I drop the pen and feel for a second like I am going to puke.

"Good that you haven't lost your sense of humor, Griffin, I think you will fit in here perfectly." Jaha smiles at me and opens the door of his office.

"Green, get some identification for Griffin with the right clearance, today if possible."

"Yes Sir, anything else?"

"No Green, just keep the feeds up."

"Yes Sir." Green nods and returns to his keyboard.

Jaha nods and leads me down to the area Reyes vanished earlier. The room has gone quiet since most of the usual employees have already left. I assume what will happen next will stay between a very carefully selected group of people. And me. Next to the elevator doors is another door, Jaha pushed it open and leads my down a hall, turns right and knocks at the door in front of him before opening it. I follow him into a space that seems to be a mixture of a laboratory, a workshop and a garage. Leaning in a chair, her legs on the table, eyes closed sits Reyes, the beautiful girl from before. Next to her feet on the table sits the black box.

"Raven, it is so good to see you working." Jaha says with a smile and takes a seat at one of the more free tables to my right. Reyes opens her eyes and looks at him rather sleepy.

"I finished what you asked for," she checks her watch "seven and a half minutes ago. If you politicians need to talk for an eternity you can't stop a poor mechanic from taking a nap." she answers. I nearly burst into laughter, that was not the same Reyes that interrupted us earlier, but I like this side of her.

"So this Blondie here is the reason I had to wait nearly eight hours before I was aloud to poke a hole into handsome in the back?" she asks, sitting up a bit and taking her feet down.

"Yes she is, but now you can, right?" Jaha still smiles.

"Okay then. Raven Reyes is the name, you can call me what ever you like, but nothing to freaky. I am the mechanic of this place, you know putting all the cars back together you field guys bomb to pieces."

"Actually Raven is one of the most brilliant minds when it comes to technology in nearly every form. She build that little chip that is going into your arm and the neck of Miss Woods."

I nod and take the hand Raven is holding out for me to shake.

"I am pleased to meet you Raven, the name though is Clarke, not Blondie, I believe I would make more money if it were."

Raven laughs at that, grips my hand a bit stronger, takes a device looking a lot like a big syringe and stabs my arm with it. The pressure hurts a bit, but before I can complain it is gone.

"Nice to meet you too Clarkey." She puts the Syringe away and picks up a scanner, swipes it over the area where the chip should be and nods pleased.

She returns to her desk and opens another box.

"This is a three part com device. First of all the ear peace." She hands me a small ear bud, small enough to nearly vanish in the ear. I place it in my right ear.

"Second we have two mics. One goes at your collar," she pins a little black dot at the collar of my jacket and I have to focus really hard to see it, even though I know it's there. "the second one you can tuck where ever you like, but please not in your underwear, other people want to use them too, you know?" She hands me a second pin, a little bit bigger than the first one and I pin it at my sock with two, in question, raised eyebrows. Raven laughs again.

"You got a smart one there Jaha." She grabs another syringe from her table and hands me the scanner. "Shall we go poke handsome?" she asks before starting to leave the room.

"One second Raven, what about our little mystery box." Ravens mood instantly drops.

"Can't get it open. I know that there is an USB drive inside, I scanned it, but if I force the box open the drive will be erased. The only way to get that thing out there is by opening it nicely the way it is intended to be opened and how that is I don't know. But from the wiring I would say the fingerprint scanner is only one step."

Jaha nods and raises from the desk.

"Let's see if Griffin won't be able to find anything out about that." I nod to signal that I understood the second assignment.

Together we walk back to the box and for a third time I take in the woman sitting in it. She still hasn't lost her posture, impressive I decide, after all she is in there for at least 14 hours. She opens her eyes as we walk towards her and a grin forms on her face.

"So we have a deal Thelonius?" she asks calmly.

"Yes Miss Woods, we have a deal. Miss Reyes here will insert you your tracking chip now and from then on Agent Griffin will accompany you to your contact. After we have the information we need she will bring you back into our custody."

Woods nods, Jaha walks up to the box and slides his ID through the port and types his password. A shrill beeping sound emits from the ceiling as the front side of the box swings open and the box itself is moved back around Woods. Raven steps up, places the syringe at her neck and pushes the tracker under her skin, while Jaha leans down to me.

"There will be Agents close to you, no matter where you go, so what ever happens, we got you covered."

I nod again, but my eyes are fixed on Alexandria Woods. As Raven scans her chip and nods, two guards step up and open the shackles around her hands and legs, then all of them leave there positions, leave the room. Woods stands up slowly, stretching her back. She is taller than I expected, taller than me and Raven, even if she is shorter than Jaha. She strokes over the wrinkles in her trousers and shirt, then she steps towards me. Without wanting to I tilt my chin up, and my shoulder stiffen, but she just smiles and holds out her hand for me to shake.

"It is indeed nice to see you again so soon Clarke."

"I wish it would be mutual." I answer, but I take her hand. I have to work with her, at least for the next few hours and I have the feeling it won't be easy as it is, I don't need to add to it as well by being more hostile than necessary. Her grip is strong, not so strong that it would hurt, but confident. I hold the grip and try to match it the best I can, while my eyes lock with her. 'Mistake' is the first thought that forms in my head. The color of her eyes remind me of the leaves in a dark forest, mumbling in the wind, shaping into monsters for the mind to find and be scared of.

"It was my pleasure handsome." Raven throws in, walks past us and waves shortly. "I will be at my office if you need me Sir."

I take my hand back, silently thanking Raven for the reminder where I am, who I am, who she is.

"Well then, I will take my leave as everything here seems to be in order." Jaha nods towards me and reserves a long look for Woods, then he leaves and I watch after him. I am alone now with Woods. Nothing there to protect me, I don't even have my gun on me and she still has those eyes. What the fuck is wrong with me? Since when am I scared of a pair of eyes? I've been in worse situations for heavens sake, far worse!

"Do you know where my coat is?" I look back to Woods, still standing in front of me, still smiling, rolling down the selves of her shirt while looking around in the room, as if she would assume it is somewhere here.

"No." I answer, then I shake my head. 'Get your shit together for fucks sake Griffin' my brain curses at me. "But I believe you will survive without one Miss Woods." I get an raised eyebrow for that.

"Lexa." she says quietly, calm and if it was the most normal thing to say as a wanted criminal to an FBI Agent.

"I am sorry?"

"My name is Lexa, you can call me by it." Now I raise my eyebrows, she smiles again this stupid smile that I don't understand. I can't call her Lexa. It's to personal, seems to intimate for me.

"No one I work with calls me Miss Woods, only the people who work for me do."

"I will not call you Lexa." I state and as her name drops from my lips, only for a split second, her smile grows wider.

"As you wish, but be aware that my friend knows the way I work very well, trust me when I say that you calling me Miss Woods will only work if you act like my subordinate."

"No." the word was out before I could even think about it. Her smile was still unwavering, what the hell was wrong this woman and smiling?

"Well then it will have to be Lexa, Clarke." She said it with a final tone in her voice, like the conversation was over and turned to the right hand side, where, as Jaha explained to me earlier was a second way out of this place. I followed her, hurrying up my pace to take the lead and to my surprise she let me. 'Left, left, right, straight, right, straight, left' I repeated in my head over and over again, making absolutely sure I won't get lost in the maze that followed the second door out of the box room. And it worked, without much effort we found our way out.

I took a long look around. We were in the industrial part of DC, in an ally, small and dirty, except the car that was waiting no three meters away from us. Black and in top shape. Next to it stood a woman, tall, I would say Asian heritage, though I couldn't tell if Chinese or Japanese, long blond hair that fell over her shoulder, wearing jeans and a brown leather jacket.

"Heda." she said as she recognized us. "That took longer than you thought." She pushed herself to the rear door of the car and opened it, waiting for Lexa to enter.

"My apologies Anya, there were a few problems I did not expected."

"Like the bomb?" Anya asks back, Lexa just nodded and stepped up to the door. "Anya, this is Clarke, Clarke, this is Anya, please be nice to each other."

I eyed Anya a second, all I got was a tapping foot and a little bit bugged eye role, so I followed Lexa in the car, Anya entered up front and started the engine.

"Straight to Thomas?" she asked.

"No, first I need a coat." Lexa answered and leaned back in the seat a little bit. I stared at her.

"You want to get a fucking coat first?" I couldn't believe it. "There is a little girl, probably scared like shit and you want to get a fucking coat?"

Lexa turned her gaze to me.

"Careful with that tongue of yours Clarke." she said and buckled up. "Seat belt." she nodded at mine, still unused.

"We are not getting a fucking coat before learning what we need to know!"

"We won't be going anywhere before you do not buckle up."

With grinding teeth I grab the seat belt and put it on.

"Happy? Can we now see this friend of yours?" Lexa smiles again, nodding towards to Anya.

"The coat first Anya." she then turns back to me. "You now have about 10 minutes to ask me all the questions I am sure you have, do not fear, they won't be able to listen, this car suppresses nearly all mobile frequency's."

My brain froze for a moment, the only thought swimming in it being: 'What the fuck?' and then it started running in overdrive. Sure I had questions, tones of questions. What did she want from me? Why me? What the hell is in the black box? How do you open the box? Why did she give herself up? Why the fuck is she smiling the whole time? And what the hell is so important about a fucking coat that it can't wait for another hour or so?

I feel the car beneath me start moving, kicking my mind back to reality.

"What is so important about a fucking coat?" the last question that popped up in my mind is the first question I ask. Great, of all the things I could have asked I decide that the coat as the most important one. Lexa can't hide her surprise this time, well even if it was unintentional, I kicked a reaction other than a smile out of her.

"Clarke, there are not many things that are important to me, but my coat is, and Thomas knows so. Don't you think it would be suspicious to come to his home, without my coat, in the middle of the night, with a stranger at my side?"

Point taken, but I can't say that, so instead I say: "Don't you criminals usually work at night anyway?" I know it's cliche, I have enough experience to know it's bogus, but I say it anyway, not loosing the feeling that it's Lexa's fault that my mind isn't working like it actually should.

"I actually prefer the day for my transactions rather than the night, though I might say it is true that some things are better handled in the dark of night, others not so much. It truly depends on the circumstances, which reminds me, I once knew this thief, talented fellow, he could break into anything, but the poor guy was so afraid of the dark that he only worked during the daytime. Then one day, he enters this mansion, is supposed to steal a little glass figurine, worth a fortune, if I may add, and instead of an empty house he finds the husband with the nanny in bed! Can you imagine that? He got way more out of this adventure as just the figurine, I believe he is settled for live now, isn't he An?"

Anya nods, her eyes still on the road, I am not sure she even listened, while I am still trying to warp my mind around what Lexa just told me. This woman is confusing. I mentally note to try to avoid further discussions with her about the time at which she works.

"Any other questions?" she encourages me. This time I am thinking hard what I need to know, what would be important to ask. 'What do you want with me?' is the first thing in my mind, but I doubt she will answer that, it would be a wasted question, 'Why me?' also, so I ask the next thing that comes to me.

"What is in the box?"

I eye her closely, well as closely as possible in a moving car in the dark. The street lights that pass over her features make the sharp jawline even more prominent, her high cheekbones deepens the shadows that fall on her cheeks, and her eyes seem nearly black. I have to admit it to myself, she is handsome, no, handsome is the wrong term, she is beautiful. The smile that still plays on her full lips wavers a bit before she answers:

"I don't know." She turns her gaze to the window, watches the passing buildings and I can see the muscles in her long neck tense.

"You don't know? Doesn't it come from you?"

"No, I was just supposed to get it to you and I did that, didn't I?"

"From whom is it?" She is still not looking at me, her eyes still follow the buildings around us, as the car suddenly stops.

"Just the coat?" Anya asks from up front. I nearly jump in my seat, O nearly forgot she was there.

"I will go myself, thank you Anya." Lexa unbuckles her seat belt and leaves the car, the moment the door opens someone is yelling in my ear.

"Griffin, come in! For the love of god Raven, you said that stuff would work no matter where she goes!" My hand shoots towards my ear. The door closes and it is silent again. I take my seat belt off to and open the door on my side of the car, getting out, I totally forgot that they must assume that the equipment isn't working, since all they got was radio silence.

"I'm here, chill please."

"For heavens sake Griffin, where are you, we also lost your tracking... never mind, Raven has you and Woods back up again. What happened?"

"Her car seems to shield wireless signals." I answer and take the time to look around. The street I am standing at is absolutely empty. No human or animal anywhere and for DC standards it is even quiet clean. The car is parked in front of a small store, 'Sewed on Order' stands on the shield that hangs a little crooked. Lexa just enters the store, giving the elderly man, who opened the door, a hug.

"That's not good, but nothing we can do at the moment, are you with her contact now?" Jaha asks in my ear.

"No Sir, Woods wanted to have a new coat first, couldn't convince her otherwise."

There is a long silence in my ear and I feel how my feet begin to tap nervously.

"Well, we will see when you find something out, we are listening."

I heard the warning in the voice, the suspicion, I couldn't blame him, I am still nobody to him. The chimes of the store door get my attention and Lexa steps outside, the coat, knee long, in black, obviously hand stitched, fits her perfectly.

"I am back in the car now Sir, Woods got her coat."

Lexa get's in the car, buckles up and waits, she seems so content, now that she has her coat back. I follow her and also put my seat belt back on and Anya starts driving.

"You haven't told me yet from whom the box is." I say, as Lexa makes no inclination to start up a conversion again. At my words she turns her head in my direction, the smile on her face looks different now, I would say she looks sad?

"To tell you would break a promise I mad a long time ago Clarke."

"What do you care?" I ask and regret it instantly, her eyes turn dark, the smile on her face looks now dangerous, and my body retreats on instinct.

"I may not walk the most honest path of live Clarke, but even I have rules I play by and I will teach you one now, before we get any more misunderstandings. **Value loyalty above all else.** " she pronounces every word carefully and her words burn themselves in my brain. Those words are no joke to her, she means them, and they do not only count for the people who she works with, it is also a rule for herself. I raise both hands in defeat, message revived, thank you, please come again next time.

"Okay, sorry, I didn't mean to step on toes." Actually I did mean to, even if I regret it big time. I now have a good idea of the monster that waits beneath the beautiful, smiling woman with the calm appearance. She is a warrior deep down and that, I have learned in my years I worked with criminals, is the most dangerous of monsters.


	4. Sweet Dreams

Chapter III

Sweet Dreams

I didn't say another word for the rest of the drive and Lexa didn't encourage me anymore either. She was deep in thought, her eyes fixed on the window. Anya didn't say anything as well, but I got the feeling that that was just who Anya was. It took us about 5 Minutes, since the streets were empty and Anya took a lot of shortcuts, to reach our location. A run down Motel. Lexa exited the car, walked around and opened the door for me. I followed her lead, this was her world, her domain and I felt it to be the safest to just do as I was told. Lexa stepped up to me and leaned in to me, so her mouth was directly next to my ear. She smelled like pines and moss, a little bit of sweat and something smoky, as if she would actually be a smoker but hasn't smoked in a while.

"You have to excuse me, Clarke, I usually do not go down at the first time." she whispered and kneed down in front of me, lifting the right leg of my trousers. I just stood there frozen. Hell, the way she just talked to me, her voice was at least an octave deeper. As Lexa stood up again she was holding the microphone I had pinned to my sock. She smiled at me, and leaned her mouth down to speak directly into it.

"I am truly sorry, I believe it was Raven? I know it must have taken quiet a while to build these things, but the next conversations are a little bit private." Then she doped the mic, took the second one from my collar and smashed both with the heel of her shoes. She then reached for the ear piece, but I was faster. I took it out and handed it to her.

"Thank you, Clarke." She took my arm and hooked it into her's, after she also smashed the ear piece.

"Here we go Clarke, the information to safe that girl is right behind those doors, so if you would please be so kind and not give me a reason to eliminate this friend of mine, that would be pleasant."

Anya also left the car and locked it, she followed us, staying a step behind, while Lexa took me to one of the doors, Nr. 23. She knocked and waited.

"Who's there?" came a dark voice through the door.

"A friends friend with his friend my dear Thomas." Lexa answered.

"Gosh, Miss Woods, don't ya scare the shit off me like that!" came it back, but the door stayed closed.

"Thomas, I have two questions for you and then I am gone again, so why don't you let us in so we can talk in private?" Lexa spoke to the door like she was doing it all the time and it wasn't strange at all.

"Yeah, yeah, sure Miss Woods, sure, but you see the thing is I haven't had the time to clean up, since ya didn't told me you would come, ya know?"

"Thomas, I have company with me and I actually have better thing to do right now than discuss with you how clean your living room is. So how about a game. I will see how far my patience reaches today and when that time is over I will walk through this door, if you opened it or not."

The door swung open only seconds later and a huge man stood in the frame. His head was completely shaved, a thick beard covered his face, well trimmed and taken care of though and he whore shorts and a dirty T-Shirt, so he wasn't expecting visitors, at least I hope so.

"There you go Thomas." Lexa pushed herself past the mountain of a man, taking me with her.

"This is Clarke, Thomas and you know Anya. Clarke, that is the gentleman who's handiwork went off this afternoon." I nodded stiffly at the tall man.

"Miss Woods, that was not mine, I swear, I would never..." his words died in his mouth as Anya entered the room after us, her gun drawn and pointed straight at his head.

"Thomas, you know I hate being lied to." Lexa took a look around and decided to sit down in one of the chairs in front of the running TV. She leaned back, and crossed her legs. My gaze switched between the three criminals in the room, I didn't know what to do, I mean, Anya had her gun out and I just noticed that mine was still tucked away at that damned blackside, but I couldn't let this man here be killed, no matter what he did, there were rules.

"Miss Woods, I swear..." One glance of Lexa shut him up, he suddenly looked very small.

"I will give you one last chance, Thomas, tell me the truth."

The man's eyes couldn't hold Lexa's glare and I was pretty sure that he messed up in some way and what ever he did, he knew that those two in front of him would kill him for it.

"Come on Tom. I know you for how long now? Ten years?"

"Yes, Miss Woods."

"In those ten years, have I ever treated you unfair, Thomas?"

"No, Miss Woods"

"See, now, Thomas, take a seat. Anya, would you mind making us some coffee?"

Anya holstered her gun, shrugged her shoulders and moved in the small corner of the room that was the kitchen. Lexa looked up to me.

"Clarke, why don't you sit down too? Let's all relax a little bit." I shot a glance to Thomas, who sat down in the chair opposite of Lexa, so I walked over to the couch, slowly, careful not to spook anyone. The room fell silent, only the sound of cups being moved around and the steady hum of noises from the TV audible. Thomas still stared at his lap like a boy, Lexa bounced her feet in the rhythm of one of the jingles from TV and I sat there, between the two, wondering if I would see the morning sun rise. I couldn't shake the feeling that this situation was a little bit like putting a mentos in a bottle of coke. Everyone knows it's going to explode, you just wait for it.

Anya returned with four cups of coffee, handed everyone one and sat down next to me, she also crossed her legs and leaned back.

"Shall we then Thomas?" Lexa took a sip from her cup, I followed suit, it tasted like crap, but I took another gulp just to have something to do.

"Miss Woods, as I already said, I would never do anything to anger ya..."

"...but?" Lexa continued his sentence.

Thomas looked up, then down, left then right. He is looking for a way out came it to me, the way he clutched his cup, not drinking at all, was he praying?

"Ya know how I work, ya know I never..." his voice gave out and Lexa let out a deep breath.

"It's okay Tom, I get it. Just tell me where he is."

"I don't know Miss Woods," Lexa cocked her head to the side, her eyebrows shot up. "but I know where he has da girl Miss Woods! She is at his house in Westmore! I saw her there myself!"

"I know she was there Thomas, but that house is the house your bomb blew to pieces, I also know that you designed the bomb so who ever breached the house would have a good time of warning before it blows up and that, my dear Gus, is the only reason I didn't shoot you down on sight, but what I need from you know is where his plan B is."

"He never told me."

"So he was here?"

"Yes Miss Woods, Ma'am, he said he would kill me if I didn't build him this bomb, put a gun to my head Miss Woods." Lexa nodded, she looked happy.

"Then I know where to go to, I thank you Thomas." She took another sip of her coffee. "God, Anya this stuff is horrible!" She put the cup down. "Which reminds me of this lovely Barista I met in Frankfurt. She was such a lovely girl, all smiles and stuff, but her coffee was absolutely horrific, so one day her boss took her and told her she will have to leave, because even if she was the nicest, best selling Barista they had, her coffee was just bad." With one smooth movement she drew a gun from under her coat and pulled the trigger. The bang was not as quiet as one may think, even though on top of the gun sat an silencer, so I jumped. Thomas head fell back, his eyes empty, a hole in his forehead. Anya put her cup down, while Lexa placed the gun on the table.

"What the hell!" I heard myself shout. "Why the fuck did you shoot him?"

"Sit down please, Clarke. You shouting around is not helpful."

"I don't want be helpful! I am..." I lower my voice now, "... an FBI Agent! And you can't just go around shooting People while I am with you!"

"So I can shoot people when you are not around?"

"Of course not! That's not what I meant!"

Lexa looked down at the gun in her hands, she tabs at the silencer, seeing if it was still hot.

"Did you know? One of the most famous myths in the history of action movies is that a silencer silences a shot completely. Maybe it is because of the name, silencer. But did you know that a silencer only suppresses the sound of the out flowing gas when you shoot? No device I know of could silence the sound of the bullet breaking through the air."

That actually shut me up. Not because it was an argument for her or against me, but the calmness she shows. She just murdered someone in cold blood she knew for ten years, without hesitation and it does not look like she is having hard feelings about it too. Anya still sits next to me, sipping her coffee, the TV is still running.

"I am going to call Jaha." I managed to say and grab my phone, but before I can start typing the number he gave me, I have a gun in my face.

"Anya, put that down!" Lexa barked, the command in her tone cuts the air like a sharp knife cuts butter. Anya looked at her her nostrils flared, her jaw clenched but then she lowered her gun.

"Clarke, I would ask you not to call Thelonius yet." Lexa tapped again against the silencer and then tucks the weapon away, she raises from her seat.

"You can do that once we left." Anya also stood up, tucking her gun away, drinking the last of her coffee, before taking her's and Lexa's cup.

"Where are we going?" I asked, getting up as well again. Lexa looked at her watch.

"Sadly you won't be able to join us, Clarke."

"Why not?" My head suddenly felt dizzily.

"Because you will sleep now, I will call you in the morning."

There it was again, that smile, that stupid smile I can't read. My eyelids became heavy, my vision blurred and I stumbled back. Two strong arms held me up, guided me towards the couch. The smell of pines and moss, sweat and smoke filled my nose, then I was out.

In recap I would say I couldn't have known. Nothing Lexa or Anya did or say gave me a hint that they would drug me and take off. Well the take off part I was prepared for, but the drug part, no, not on my radar.

I woke up in a hospital. Clean cloths, if you want to call a paper gown cloths, clean sheets, clean everything. I hate hospitals. A nurse just entered through the door to my left. She has an IV bag in her hand and starts working in silence. I don't bother her, keep my eyes nearly closed, it is warm here, even if I hate hospitals, this bed is quiet comfortable.

"Welcome back Griffin." I should have kept my eyes closed, fuck. While I turned my head towards the voice, I opened my eyes completely. Next to my bed, in jeans and T-Shirt, sat Kane. He looked a bit beat up, his left arm was in a sling, but other than that nothing bigger. Scratches here and there, sure but nothing broken or missing.

"Could say the same to you Kane." I answer and move my lips into a grin. My head hurts, the movement, as slow as I did it, let my brain hammer. Now came the point why I hate hospitals. The nurse garbed my head and turned it back to her, clicking her lamp and shining in my eyes. I squinted my eyes shut and turned my head away.

"I am going to get a doctor, please stay put." she said mater of factly and left.

"What the fuck happened?" I ask, my eyes still closed.

"You were dosed, Orifidal, it's a heavy sleeping pill, mostly used in Spain." he answered and as I opened my eyes I saw him grinning.

"Jaha is really mad at you, Woods gone, you found with a dead body sound asleep. We found her tracking chip in a dumpster five blocks north. He send someone the moment your com went offline, Raven is mad at 'handsome for that bullshit' by the way and refuses to give any technology to you ever again, but when they arrived Woods was gone already and you were sleeping like a baby."

The door opened again and a tall man with a kind face entered the room.

"Good morning Miss Griffin, I am Doctor Nyko, I am here to see if you are alright." He leaned down to me, checked my pulse, checked my eyes and then asked:

"Do you have any kind of pain?"

"My head is killing me, but other than that, all good, all fine. Can I leave?"

Nyko smiled at me.

"Yes, Miss Griffin, you are free to leave, just make sure please to take it easy today. You might have some problems falling asleep tonight, but I would rather have your body settle this on his own than give you anything for it."

I nod, I wouldn't want anything as well, so for the first time since I started with the FBI I agreed with a Doctor.

"Good, then I will finish the papers and your mother wishes to see you before you leave."

I freeze, fuck. No way in hell!  
"In which hospital am I?" I knew the answer, but someone else had to tell me, just to be sure.

"Sibley Memorial." Nyko answers, an understanding smile on his face.

I covered my face with my hands. Screw this, I got enough on my mind without my mother asking me millions of questions.

"I will wait outside Griffin, we have a lot of catching up to do, but first you will need to see your mom I guess."

"Wait! How long did I sleep?"

Kane smiles at me again.

"Nearly two days." and with that he left, leaving me with million questions. What was with the girl? What was with Lexa? The Black Box? My father? Tramlick?

"Your mother brought you some cloths while you were sleeping," the nurse pointed at a suite, that was laid out over a chair to my left. "If you need anything else, don't hesitate to call."

"Thanks." She leaves me alone and I just sat in the bed, staring at the wall in front of me, my brain doing a quick recap.

First:

I lost Woods, meaning I will probably loose my job too, fuck.

Second:

The black box. I assumes it is still in the lab in black site NR.7 and I still don't know how to open it or where it came from, fuck.

Third:

My father. Woods let it sound like he was still alive. 'Vash otets gorditsya vami.', 'Your father **is** proud of you.' one hundred percent present tense, but that was impossible. My father is dead. Jacob Griffin is dead. Fuck.

Fourth:

The little girl, I had no idea what has happened in the last two days, so I don't know nothing about her, fuck, but nothing I couldn't find out.

Fifth:

My mother knows I am here, how could she not and will probably want to know everything that happens. Well, that at least would be easy to take care of.

Sixth:

Alexandria 'Lexa' Woods. FUCK.

Just thinking about her brings back this mixture of pines, smoke and moss, green eyes, that flick between kind and cold in mere seconds and that smile. I don't know, but have I mentioned that I hate this smile of hers? Goosebumps crawl down my back and I can't decide if they are a 'I am terrified of this woman' kind of goosebumps or not.

I am taking a deep breath and get up, wash myself in the small bathroom that was part of the room service, get dressed and then take a look around in the room until I find it. My mobile phone, my wallet, my badge, my keys and beneath all of that, even my service gun. I check the magazine and it is loaded. The safety is on, but even so, dangerous. I make a mental note to ask who put it here and then leave to meet my mother, my gun tucked away safely under my jacket. Kane stands next to my door, waiting, his eyes roam my sides and nods.

"I guess you brought me my gun?" I ask and start moving.

"Yes, I assumed you would want to have it back." I nod, he is right.

"Dangerous to leave it loaded."

"I was there the whole time."

He get's a short glance. I doubt he watched over me because he was worried. The rest of the way we stay silent.

My mother is Abigail Elizabeth Griffin, one of the best trauma surgeons in DC. Her office is at the end of the fifth floor in building B. I know it by heart, just the way I have to take is a different one than usually. I wouldn't say I have the best relationship to my mother since dad died, she burring herself in work, me crying at the bathroom floor, but I would also lie if I said that I hate my mother. She is no easy person, but she is a good person. Sure, she still treats me like a child, but I know that she only wishes to protect me, specially since I joined the FBI.

When I told her that I wanted to go to Quantico her first word to me was 'No.' When I explained to her that I wanted to become an Agent so I could serve and protect the people and the system my father believed in she laughed at me. She told me I was naive. She was right, I was, but I didn't care. I went. I learned about the world. I finished my training, I became an Agent and then I apologized to her and she to me. We still only talk if works brings me here or the holidays are close.

And here I am now, in front of her office. I know what she is going to tell me. That I should do something else with my life, that I had so many options, that my work was to dangerous.

I knocked, Kane takes his position next to the door.

"Enter."

I entered, nodded at my mom and sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk. She looked up at me a second, nodded and returned to the phone call she was having, it didn't take long.

"Clarke." she said as she hung up. She looks a lot like me, well actually the other way around. I got her blond hair, though mine is more wavy, my dad had curls, the shape of her eyes is just like mine, but hers are a light brown. The rest of her face I copy perfectly, the chin, the jawline, the cheekbones. I hope I age as well as she did.

"Mom." I waited, but nothing came, no accusations, nothing. I became uncomfortable.

"How are you doing Mom?" I asked, just to break the silence.

"You know I am fine." she just said, her eyes scanning every inch of me, trying to find out if I was alright, before she sighs. "What are you doing child?"

"My work, Mom."

She nodded, she knows the drill. Most of my assignments are classified, or at least I tell her so. I never wanted her to worry about me. I know that what I am doing is dangerous on most days. But she doesn't need to know the details, sometimes I wish myself I wouldn't know the details.

"Just take care, yes?"

This time I nodded.

"Always Mom."

"Are you coming home for Thanks Giving?"

I nodded again.

"As long as I am not forced to work." she doesn't have to know I like taking the holiday shifts.

"Alright." she returned to her medical cases on her desk, I am dumbfounded.

"That's it?"

"Yes, Clarke. All I wanted was to see my daughter before she leaves the hospital, she was brought to by an ambulance two days ago, while she was awake."

Another nod and I stood up.

"Okay then, I will see you soon."

Abigail Griffin smiled sadly.

"I really hope not, Clarke." It's a sad smile and I know what she wants to tell me with it. I turned around to leave the office. My mom said nothing. Yes, I hate hospitals.

Kane was still outside. He fit's in the scenery. The sling in his arm helping a lot. He looks up, a little bit surprised.

"That was fast." he said as he pushed himself of the wall.

"That's how it can go with family."

He nods, doesn't pry, I am grateful.

"So tell me, what happened after I was out?"

Kane grins, he seems more fond of me then two days ago.

"Well first of all Woods was gone, her chip dumped. Jaha nearly freaked out, we had nothing to go on but the store she got her coat and that's where we went. It's just a sewing room by the way, we put Agents on watch and waited. I believe Jaha prayed, but that's just a guess from my side. And you wouldn't believe it, but she showed up. About two hours later she arrived out of nowhere, gave us another location and let us take her back into custody."

Kane stopped to let a doctor pass them.

"We got to the location, got the girl out save, though Tramlick is dead, can't help but feel like he wanted to be killed. I haven't had the chance to read the coroners report yet, but he looked sick."

"Where is L.. Woods now?"

"In the box. She still refuses to talk to anyone but you."

I stay silent for a while.

"What if I don't want to work with her?" I finally ask. Kane study's me shortly, then he shrugs his shoulders.

"Then Woods is moved to a high security prison and we will never know who else she might have given to us."

"What do you mean?"

"Before she went silent again she told us about a list. A list of criminals we, the government, do not even know about and she offered a deal. She get's no longer persuaded by us and she gives us name after name, until the list is done, then she vanishes again and we are free to hunt her down again."

"That's not a very good deal she want's there." We arrived at the elevator and I push the call button.

"Maybe, but I think she knows very well that she is not going to get anything more of the deal, after all she already asked for you specifically. She proved to us that she is capable of handing us a criminal we didn't know about on the silver platter, she proved to us that she does not back out of a deal and we now learned that we should not expect her to do anything like we expect, so she gave us all we need to know to decide what we are going to do with her."

"They want to do it, right?" I ask and we enter the elevator together. Of course they want the deal. It's a good deal for them.

"Yeah, kind of, but they can't do no deal without you."

"How many?"

"How many what?"

"Names, how many are on the list?"

Kane scratches his head with his free hand. He doesn't want to pressure me. He want's me make this decision without knowing how much is at stake exactly. It's nice, but I want to know.

"Come on Kane, I want to know how long I am selling myself." I try.

"53, leaving Tremlick out, 52." I need to gulp, holy shit, that's a lot, and when those guys are just as ruthless as Tremlick... I would do a lot of good, get a lot of bad people of the street.

"So you are here to see that the most important part of that deal doesn't get lost."

Kane shakes his head.

"I am here to tell you that you have a job offer at the post office."

"Post office?" I lean against the mirror in the elevator.

"Black side Nr. 7." he clarifies. "Listen, if you don't want to do it all good, no hard feelings. You return to your job at the DC field office, keep working the creepy murder cases you handled before and that's it."

I look at him. He is honest with me, I can tell by the way he holds my gaze. The only thing I would loose by refusing was my self respect. And probably the chance to climb any higher in the FBI.

"You guys really need me for this, right?"

"Yes, we do, without you there is no deal."

I take a deep breath. My continence is telling me that there is nothing to think about. I could help so much, just by being me, but on the other hand there is a little voice warning me, telling me that this is more dangerous than I would ever want to barging for. There was no guaranty how far outside of the law I would have to walk to do this job and there were still many things that weren't settled, so many open questions that had to be asked and only one person who could answer them.

'Turn away, leave it.' that little voice said, but I was never a fan of listening to myself, was I?

If I wanted answers I would have to ask and for me to be able to ask, I needed to have this job, so win win, right? I help others and myself, nothing wrong with that.

"Then I want to speak to Woods before I start, in private, no cameras, no listening. I have the feeling that she will only answer a few questions I have when nobody else is listening."

Kane's eyebrows shoot up, he thinks it was to easy. It probably was, but I needed to know. I needed to know about the thing with my father, about that little black box, who I am to Alexandria Woods and even more so I needed to know who she is to me, because I could deny it all day long, but this woman intrigued me.

"You sure that's all you want?" Kane asks with a conspiratorial grin and ends my thoughts.

"Yeah, that's all I want, besides maybe a raise." I grin back and with a light 'ping' the elevator doors open. Kane laughs.

"Dream on Griffin, that raise is not gonna happen."


	5. Free

"Hey dad!" I jump down the stairs, nearly fall, my feet unwilling to keep up with my speed.

Hums and the soft strokes of a guitar woke me, chased me out of bed. I would recognize those hums everywhere, only my dead hums like that.

I take a sharp turn, holding on to the railing so I won't crash into the hall walls.

The strums are still steady, but now the soft voice of my father falls over them, weaving a song out of the melody's.

 _I know of sin by the things my momma prayed  
I know of heaven by the line at its gate  
I know of truth and America's way  
So come drink the water if you want to be saved _

My steps falter. That's not right. Somewhere in my mind I know that this is not right.

 _Don't drink the water if it's not from my stream  
It's all still water if it's not flowing free  
Don't drink the water at the watering hole  
Cause if you ain't got money, then it can't save your soul_

Suddenly I don't want to keep moving, I don't want to see what is beyond our living rooms door, but my feet carry me on, slowly now, but still moving.

 _And all God's people said amen  
And all God's people said amen _

My hand stretches forward, taking an iron grip on the doorknob.

'Don't open it!' It's my moms voice, she screams in my head and I look around, there is no one there, nothing.

 _I know of sin by the things my momma prayed  
I know of heaven by the line at its gate  
I know of truth and America's way  
So come drink the water if you want to be saved _

The singing draws me back in, my eyes back on the doorknob in front of me and I pray to myself to stop, but my hand still turns.

 _And all God's people said amen  
And all God's people said amen _

The door opens and I close my eyes, no I want to close my eyes, but I can't. Something in there is pulling me closer, dragging me in and I can't let go. I can't turn around, I can't run even though I want to run away so badly.

 _Nobody prays unless they lose a son  
Don't believe in God till a war's to be won  
I know of truth by the lies I've been told  
The biggest one is that I'm not growing old _

The music grows louder, the strings more forceful and the door swings open, the voice is now louder and definitely my fathers.

 _And its not a sin if it don't make me cry  
He's not the devil less there's fire in his eye  
It ain't a ghost if it don't speak in tongue  
It ain't a victory till the battles been won _

And there he sits, his guitar on his lap, his eyes closed, in his favorite chair. His hair falling in his face, slowly tapping the rhythm with his feet.

 _And all God's people said amen_

His eyes open slowly, he looks so sad, why is he looking so sad.

 _And all God's people said amen_

His fingers stopped playing, but the music is still getting louder.

 _And all God's people said amen_

He turns his head to me.

 _And all God's people said amen_

Suddenly he stands, there is no guitar in his hands, his feet are no longer tapping.

 _And all God's people said amen_

Our living room is gone, he stands in an alley, his eyes fixed on someone behind me.

 _And all God's people said amen_

A gunshot rings in my ears, I cover my ears and turn around.

 _And all God's people said amen_

A woman, covered by shadows, a coat waves softly around her knees.

 _And all God's people said amen_

My head snaps to the gun in her hand, then back to my father, who fell down on his face, I can see the blood oozing out beneath him.

 _And all God's people said amen_

The woman from the shadows steps forward, kneels down next to him, long wavy hair falls in front of her face. She turns him on his back, she caresses his cheek, then she closes his eyes.

"I am sorry, Jake." she whispers, but the words ring in my ears, tear at my eardrums, they are so loud and I can't say why. I see how her mouth moves, what else is she saying? I try to listen, but my ears ring. She raises her head, the curtain of hair falls to the sides.

With a gasp and the feeling of air deprivation I shot up. The first thing I notice is that I am covered in sweat, the second that my eyes sting, the third, that I am safely at home, in my bed. My hand goes out to the night table, tapping a few times before I find my mobile phone. I sit up and check the time: 4:26 am. Great, I didn't even sleep three hours. My head falls against the headboard with a loud 'bang'. My mind drifts back to my dream, carrying me back into a fog. I remember a song, the living room of the house I used to live in, my father and then the alley. The alley. I saw the pictures of the crime scene, walked through that alley a million times, asking myself why. The sting behind my eyes is back and I don't even try to hold the tears back, as another peace of the dream enters my thoughts. The woman, long hair, a knee long coat, long _wavy_ hair.

Right now, alone in my room I cry and in this moment, at 4:28 in the morning I couldn't say if I only cried for my father. It confuses me. Why else would I cry?

'Because of the woman.' my subconsciousness mumbles into my thoughts.

'It was just a dream!' I try to remember myself. I don't know if Lexa had a part in my fathers death, I don't want to believe it.

'If it were true I couldn't work with her and tomorrow is the day I start at the post office, so fuck you subconsciousness.'

I swing my legs out of the bed, nearly hitting Pauna. The black and white, petite cat shows me her teeth as she yawns and rolls back together, I didn't even notice that she came to bed. I wipe the tears of my face, mixing them with cold sweat.

Of course I would picture Lexa as the bad guy. She is a bad guy, the baddest I have ever met so far. A really bad guy in the form of a beautiful woman, a smile forces itself on my lips and I shake my head.

"Really Griffin? You are over 30 years old and you still use the term 'bad guy'?"

I leave the lights out as I move myself to the bathroom, knowing the way by heart. I turn the shower on, shedding my sleeping cloth and put them in a basket that needed to be emptied and washed the next days. As the water hit's my skin it feels like pore by pore my body wakes up, returns to functioning. For a moment I just stand there, water pouring down at me, enjoying the moment of calm that it gives me, before I start my routine, wash myself, brush my teeth, wash my hair. I step out, put a towel around me, cut my fingernails. I walk back in my bedroom to find Pauna taking in the whole bed for herself, I smile and it hurts a bit. The last two days were long and there was no room for smiles. Before I could officially join the team around the post office there were a lot of things to take care of. First the notification for my former supervisor, he wasn't pleased, but what could he do? Blake on the other hand yelled at me for close to 30 minutes after I told him that I can't say anything about my assignment, then he hugged me and made me promised I stay in touch. It's one of the reasons I like him so much, even though he has been hitting on me since day one, he understands. He knows the work, he knows the rules. His sister was a different thing. She and I go way back to collage, we shared a room and became good friends. After that we lost sight of each other, she going through SWAT training, me going to Quantico. Bellamy Blake was already in the DC field office when I arrived. We became friends, thanks to Octavia. Together with Jasper, who works at the offices IT service, we make quiet a group when we head out, but those occasions became less and less, with me and Bellamy climbing ranks, getting cases of our own, Jasper being promoted and Octavia becoming a team leader. Tonight would be another one of those good times.

I stand in front of my drawer and take a jeans and top out of it. Today was my last free day for god knows how long, because the next thing that was decided, after I packed my stuff at the field office, was that I would get my conversation with Lexa tomorrow and after that work will start right away. Jaha seemed to have no objections to my demand to talk to Woods in private, but Pike seemed really pissed, to say it in polite terms. The discussions nearly took four hours in which I simply repeated that I will not allow any surveillance. In the end he gave in, what choice did he have? He needed me for this deal to work.

The paperwork that was left over from my old job filled my desk and I knew what my chores for today would be. I left out a groan and turned towards the kitchen, getting myself a bowl with cereal, leaving it at the counter. It was 5:15, the paper should be there, so I opened my front door and found it, laying on the door mat. I pick it up and return to my cereals, flipping through the pages. It still get's me sick, reading what is happening in the world, day by day. A bombing here, a protest there, news of pollution everywhere and another CEO who got caught steeling money. I finish my cereal, thinking about all the crappy stuff around me, all the people who only think of themselves and I can't help but wonder if I am not just like all the others. A selfish prick, I mean, look at me. I am living in a not to shabby apartment, making my living by discovering the worst in people. Sure I can tell myself it's for the greater good. I want to protect the people of this world, even if I can only help a few, but in the end it's just a job, isn't it? And nobody has the right to say that he, not even once, enjoyed poking in some others underwear drawers.

Pauna calls me back to reality as she meows and roams around my feet.

"He there little one." I pick her up and place her on my shoulder, where she lays down and winds her tail around my neck.

"Why don't we take a look if we can't find something for my picky angel?"

I take the purr she let's me hear and the soft nose in my ear as a yes.

I can hear the voices and music from afar. Happy chatter, some old country mixed with the deep bass of a techno song, the clanking of glasses. Humans, alone, in pairs and in groups shove there way through the streets. I can smell food and alcohol without being able to point a direction. I like the impressions of the night. Everything is a little bit more mysterious, a little bit more magical. The bar I am heading for, 'the Dropship', is a mixture of future design, not to loud music and old school service. At the front door I pass the waiting line and give Curtis a nod. The colossus of a man gives me a bright smile, one of his front teeth is missing, and opens the door for me. "Welcome Clarke, you haven't been here for quite some time." I grin back. "Well Curtis, you know how it is, there is this annoying thing in my life which is called work." "Ah, I see, maybe I should try that too one day." I laugh, I like Curtis, he is the nicest gay friend you can have. "Maybe you should." I answer and leave a kiss at his cheek before I slip inside.

Inside it's full, but not so you could not breath. The tables were all taken, groups of people chatting.

"Hey Clarke!" I look up as one of the waitresses greet me.

"Hey Nylah! How's it going?"

"All good, busy as always. O and Bellamy are already at your table, you want me to bring you your beer?"

"Sure, thanks." and off she goes. Nylah was like this, here one moment, gone the next. A smile plastered itself across my face as I move myself to the table in the back. It has been way to long that I went here. I raise my hand in greeting as I spot Octavia sitting on the couch that fit perfectly in the corner in the back and as she jumps up and runs up to me Bellamy also turns his head.

"Gosh Griffin!" she yells in my ear as she falls around my neck. "You look like shit."

"Thanks O, really nice to see you again too!" I answer and pull back from the hug. I look over her features, her eyes are the same dark brown as her brothers, her hair, long and messy as always, a shade lighter than his. She looks healthy, she put on some muscle mass and she positively gloats.

"Though I can't return the compliment, you look really good."

She laughs and blushes, as she pushes me towards our table. I give Bellamy a short hug and slide down on the couch, Octavia slipping down beside me.

"So have you told her?" Bellamy asks.

"Told me what?" My gaze wanders from Bellamy to Octavia and back, both have a drink in front of them, Bellamy a Whiskey or Bourbon, Octavia a Gin Tonic.

"O's got herself a boyfriend!" Bellamy ducks as a few peanuts fly over the table.

"You better pick that up yourself O." Nylah stepped up to us and put my beer on the table.

"Yes you better." Bellamy grins.

"I do not have a boyfriend." she states, getting up to collect the peanuts.

"Who has a boyfriend?" another voice cut in. "I hope not you Griffin, or do I need to remind you that, in my books, you are completely gay?" I roll my eyes, but get up to take Jasper into a tight hug.

"He there, it has been too long little one." I ruffle through his hair, which he carries short cut, but he still slaps my hand away.

"Watch with the style." he grins and then turns to Bell and O to greet them. "What's up bitches?" he shakes Bells hand and hugs O. "Who's gonna tell me who got a boyfriend?" He takes a chair next to Bellamy, I let myself fall back on the couch and take a sip of my beer.

"O got, as far as I got it."

"So who is the lucky guy?" Jasper asked.

"He is called Lincoln, he jogs in the same park as I do." Octavia's face turned red as she blushed heavily.

"So a sports freak like you?" I throw in.

"I am not a sport freak! I am staying fit for my job!"

"But he is?" Bellamy taunts her.

"Not really." Octavia stares at the table.

"What do you mean?" Jasper furrows his brows.

"He is a bodyguard."

"OMG! He protects some famous guy?" Jasper starts laughing. "Who is he protecting?"

"He isn't at liberty to tell."

"Not even a little bit?"

"No."

Octavia's eyes find mine in a silent plea.

"So O, what is his name?"

"Lincoln."

"Like the president?" Bellamy folds his hands in his lap.

"You will not check him out." O glares at him.

"He will and I will help him."

"Cut it Jasper, Bell." I give both of them a warning look. "I am happy for you O and we have to talk about that some more," my eyes wander to Bellamy. "in private." Octavia sends me one of her radiating smiles and I hurry myself up to take another sip of my beer. I am damn lucky to have them all.

I am drunk by now. I know I am, but I don't care. I know Jasper and O are drunk, but why should I care? We are having fun tonight and it's been to damn long since we all had a drink together. I take another gulp of my beer, the 6th, no 7th. I think. Nylah takes the shot glasses from our table and smiles at me.

"Anything else?" she asks. Jasper cheers, O moans, Bell is asleep in his chair. I just smile back.

"Maybe later?" I ask back, a seductive tone in my voice. Nylah nods, the grin on her face telling me she understood. It's an arrangement we have had for years now. Whenever we are both single and need some fun we turn to each other. Let of steam and god knows I need that before tomorrow.

"Sure, I still got another two hours, think you can stay awake so long?"

I grin.

"I am pretty sure I can handle that."

Jasper cheers even more, O looks ostentatiously around the room.

"Told ya, you are the gayest gal out there Griffin." he slurred, Nylah leaves, shaking her behind more than necessary, I still enjoy the view, who would not? Nylah is a good looking woman. I turn my attention back to Jasper when Nylah is out of view.

"Really Jasper? Gal? Who says that?"

"He does." Octavia grins at me. "And he is right, you know? You are gay."

"I am bisexual." I answer, taking another sip of my beer.

"Yeah right and when was the last time you had something with a guy?"

"I don't know Jasper, but..."

"See! You. Are. So. Gay!" I roll my eyes, I can't help it.

"Jasper, leave her in her fairy tail land where she still believes herself that she is bisexual." Octavia comes to my defense. I leave it at that, it wouldn't help me to argue anyway. I would have my fun tonight and period.

"Well okay then," Jasper continues, "have I told you that I was reassigned yesterday?"

"No shit?" O leans forward, Bell just raises his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I am coming to get you O, my new job is with the Special Weapons And Tactics communications support in DC."

"So you are leaving too?" Bell looks positively pissed.

"Not my decision Bro, seems like it came from the top, they wanted me, they got me."

I raise my beer with a half smile.

"Know that feeling."

"So next time I am having your annoying voice in my ear next time I am heading out?" O laughs.

"That's how it's going to be, young lady." he smiles at her, let's his glass collide with mine in mid air and takes a good gulp.

"So, O is heading her own team, Jasper is getting to get on her nerves, Griffin is getting a top secret only need to know basis job somewhere and you leave me alone in the rightful fight for justice?"

Bellamy also raises his glass.

"Well then to you all, who gave up on me!" he laughs as our glasses chime in disharmony.

A lot is changing around me and I can't loose the feeling that nothing happens for no reason around me, at least not since last Thursday.

'Drink the water – Justin Cross'


	6. Game is on

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

This is how I keep myself busy. Just doing anything helps. Keeping a rhythm, thinking of a song I used to like. The lights around me are still dimmed, but I left the excuse of a bed about an hour ago. '43 minutes' a little voice in me whispers, I ignore her, the perfectionist inside of me. Not everything has to be perfect.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

It's 6 am on day four and I am tiered. I don't sleep enough, I know that, but I can't sleep, I am at the hands of people who would kill me if they knew. I need to keep my guard up, so I don't allow myself to really sleep, in this way I need to be perfect.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

I can feel how my eyes are starting to close again and I let them, my body can rest, just my mind needs to be sharp. A movement to my left startles me, one of the guards re-positioning himself. I watch from the corner of my eye how he moves the strip of his gun a little bit up his shoulder. It's an Colt M4 Carabine, standard issue. On his hip is an M1911A1 Springfield, though I can't say for sure if it's a 10mm or not. On Autopilot my mind works out the probabilities of survival if I should have to face all 12 of them. They are only doing there jobs, it is not their fault, but my thoughts are still racing.

'Move between both rows, let them shoot each other, calculate path of the bullets, take in aiming, probably higher heart rate through adrenaline, chance of survival with full body function, 89%, 95% if first kill is fast enough to obtain the Springfield, 100% when you get the M4. Recalculation necessary if they heard the story's about you and/or saw you in action before.'

For a second it is quiet, then the little voice raises again.

'If awareness is present surrender after the first 6 dead lays by 100%. Should the encounter be in handcuffs, hands in front of body 75%, 80% and 82%, hands behind the back 50%, 52% and 58%.'

I shut the voice in my head down. I will not get in a fight with those man, it is not their fault, but I still get the distinct feeling in the back of my stomach that adumbrates anger. I swallow it. It is not their fault, they too, just want to survive.

'But you want more and they stop you from achieving it. The logical procedure would be to eliminate what is stopping you.'

I close my eyes so I can role them at myself. Sometimes I really hate that little voice, the only problem is, looking at a situation without emotions and moral to bind you down, she usually is right.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

As the door on the far side of the room opens I still my finger and lean back in the chair. It's uncomfortable, like one of those cheep plastic chairs you get for 2 bugs on every street corner.

The man that entered, even if I can't see him very good, because he is moving in the shadows of the room isn't very tall, his hair is a bit longer, the shadow can't hide this, and he is wearing a suite.

He isn't coming to me, he leaves to the side, to the room they think I know nothing about, just like they think that I can't see them when they enter or leave. Sometimes it really is a good thing, being me. He stays only a few moments,

'1.8 Minutes.'

then he leaves, together with the night shift. So I am alone with my protection squad, as I call them. So there are two options here.

First: Griffin agreed and the whole only a few trusted people can know our deal stuff started.

Two: One of them is coming to scare me.

I close my eyes and summon up the images from a few days ago, how she walked in here, the long hair tied together, uncertainty and confusion in her face but at the same time she showed me how stubborn she is, just like I was told. She definitely grew into a strong woman, just like we hoped she would. She will have to learn a lot, everyone who starts swimming has to, but she will manage. A smile tugs at my lips and I shut it down before someone can see it. This is not the time for smiles.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

My finger found it's rhythm again. A song comes to my mind. I heard it in the radio once, maybe twice, but here comes the downside of being me, I can't forget, anything. Once I heard it, read it, saw it, it stays with me forever.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

My mind carry's me through the soft tones of the piano, forms for me the incoming words, then the drums and finally the strums of guitar and bass, all together I can nearly hear it.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

My left foot is tapping the bass drum, my finger takes over the snare and my mouth forms the lyrics soundless.

 _'I've been told_

 _Life's not a joke you should laugh about_

 _Once you're old_

 _You'll know what I am talking about_

 _But I won't grow old_

 _I smiled and I denied_

 _I guess I've earned_

 _the shaking heads I got replied.'_

I know that I am barely moving, that if one wouldn't stare at me, they would not see, but I stop myself non the less. You just have to hold on a little longer. Not long and all this bullshit will end. I will be walking out of here and all of this will be behind me.

"Good morning." I open my eyes and look at the man that stands before me, I know him, I know who he is, what he is and I suppress the urge to grin, I just look at him, stare in this cold eyes in front of me. So option two it is, the games begin earlier than I thought. When he says nothing else I let my eyes wander over the suite that is a little bit to small, the hair that is so short cut you would think he was bold and the hands, clasped behind his back. I can see how his muscles strain under the grip he holds himself in, his eyes wander all over me, but they no longer seems cold, more like hungry. His eyes roam my form, just like mine roamed his, I can see a little red in his eyes.

'Physical: Possibility of high blood pressure, cause unknown, no hints towards heart disease, no open deformities, all limbs present, no signs of long term drug usage, no signs of previous operations of any kind.

Psychological: Hints of stress and sleep deprivation, problems in self restrain and hints of narcissism. Easiest way to gain information: Provocation.'

While my brain runs in high speed, I stretch my legs, lean even further back and let my eyes wander around the room. The easiest way of provocation is ignorance, especially with a narcissist.

"I was told you do not speak unless a certain woman is in your view, so I won't bother asking you anything."

I keep my eyes fixed on a smudged spot on the right side of my box.

"I will tell you a few things."

Very slowly I turn towards him and force my jaw in a yawn, he clenches his, but his voice stays steady as he continues.

"We do know who she is, but I guess that won't surprise you, if you wouldn't have known that we found out, you wouldn't be here."

I tilt my head and watch as the vein on his neck starts pulsating. This guy is easier to provoke than Anya and she has a really short temper already.

"In my opinion you are just a low life thug who doesn't know when to back out, but some others think that we might be able to work together, so if you agree to this, we will let you play what ever game you are playing here, but you will give her to us when we ask for it, do not worry about breaking deals, we will set a new one up for you."

His eyes darken and his jaw clenches.

"A full pardon, for whatever crimes you committed and whatever crimes you will commit in the capturing of the people on the 'blacklist', as long as no one of value for us is on there. It will be a bit like a free card to do what ever you want, until you are finished."

He releases his hands from behind his back, his eyes scanning mine for any signs of agreement, his heart rate is up, I can see the vein on his neck pulsing more clearly now, his eyes are anything but calm, though his breathing is steady, interesting.

"You know, I was against coming to you. I don't think you deserve a chance to be a part of..." he smiles a little bit before he continues,

"...us and I assume that I don't have to worry anyways, or am I wrong?"

As he waits for my answer his smile slowly grows into a grin.

"As I thought, so here, for you, now the terms of disagreement."

He takes a step forward and leans in so close his breath fogs the window.

"We will hunt you down like the dog you are. We will eliminate every single one of your associates, burn every bridge you could possibly built and make sure you will never get a foot down in any country of this world. Is that clear?"

He waits again for a moment to see what effect his words have. I keep my face stoic while I memorize every piece of information he gives me, anything can be important.

He steps back again, now looking around in the hall that harbors my box.

"You know, I wouldn't have bothered to warn you, but there are people even higher up that, again, disagreed with me, who think that you should be treated as an worthy opponent and not like the rat we both know you are."

His eyes narrows as they focus back on me and he looked like he really had to hold back not to spit in my face, he doesn't like me, that is good, he makes it personal, he makes it easy for me. I let my lips twitch into a slight grin.

"Oh, you think that's funny? I have something else for you that I think of as funny."

His face twists into a harsh, grin like, grimace, he reminds me a lot of a pit bull right now, he even bared his teeth a little bit.

"We know who you are, Woods."

I wagerer my options. I could speak and act like I broke, maybe I would get more out of him like this, but the question is, would it be worth? Does he know anything that I don't know in the first place? I was aware that they knew who I am, I never hid it in anyway, I even kept my name, so it would be more surprising if they didn't know who I am.

'Is it worth the risk?' the voice in my mind whispers and for the first time today I don't know the answer, so I just sit there, a half smile on my lips, for the moment at least.

He shakes his head and turns around.

"You have no idea with whom you just went to war, Woods." The way he tilts his head over his shoulder like I am not even worth looking at shows me that he is truly the one who has no idea what really is going on. He is a small fish in a much bigger pond, so big that he can't even comprehend how big exactly.

He doesn't know anything that would be of value to me.

'But that doesn't mean that those higher ups don't know more and you need to know everything you can about them, you know who some of them are, but not all, that is a danger he could minimize.' the little voice whispers again and I can't help but agree this time.

"I once heard of a farmer, you know?" I raise my voice, it doesn't sound as hoarse as I feared, good. He tuns around and looks at me, his face curious.

"He was a guy who owned nothing to the world, he just took care of his land and never looked beyond it. He took care of his sheep's, his cattle and his crops. His son on the other hand looked out into the world and saw all that it was and all that it could be. He saw all the humans out there, living a life he couldn't even begin to understand. His father told him not to care, to stay with what he knows, he told him that the world out there is dangerous, that all the humans there will only try to hurt him, but the son couldn't ignore the world and so he wandered into it, never to return. And so it became, that the farmer, who thought he owned the world nothing, became a father who lost everything to the world."

I fixed my gaze on him, formed my face into a mask I knew would scare him, tilted my head so the dim light would light up my eyes.

"Do you know who, in our situation, is the farmer and who is the son?"

He stared at me. The confusion branded in his features.

"I suppose I am the son? And you are the farmer who lost everything to the world? Because it was so unfair to you?"

"No," I force myself not to start laughing, but I can't stop the grin from forming on my face. "you are a crop on the farmers land, not more important to the farmer than an ant would be to you here and right now, you're organization is the father and I am the son, who is going to take everything from them, cause you see, the father didn't loose all to the world, he lost only his son, who understood that his father was wrong in his ways. But the farmer made one mistake, so he lost it all. He thought that he could decide what his son knows of the world and what not."

His face twisted, anger now so present as if it was written out for me.

"So tell them that I am coming and that I know exactly who I am fighting with, tell them that I am ready to take everything from them, tell them that Alexandria Woods is coming and that not one of them is safe."

He snapped around, not issuing another word to me and walked with fast steps away from me.

'No additional data collected.' there she was again.

"Yes, but we know all we could possibly find out, we are prepared enough and we do not have the time to drag this thing out." the words slip my lips, barely audible to myself.

I let myself fall back into the chair and my eyes focus on one of the guards, his gun strip moved down again.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

My finger takes up the rhythm of the song again, it is a good song, I will have to ask Anya to get me a copy when I am out here and close my eyes.

As the song keeps playing in my head my thoughts start to still, as always. Music does that to me. It speaks to me, silences my racing head, takes over the whole of my being. Even the voice in my head is silence for this short time. And again I wished I could thank him.

 _'No – so many stones to throw_

 _No – so many places to go, to go, to go_

 _So many places to go'_

It also takes me away from the now, takes me to him, his goofy grin, his bad jokes. He was the one who taught me the meaning of music to begin with.

I hope he agrees with my way of handling this, I wish I could ask him, but he isn't here anymore, he can't help me, not anymore. But he left me with a promise and to hold it is my way of holding on to him, this last piece of him. I never swore to anyone anything before this, not even to her, and sitting here, I realize why people say that a promise can weight heavier on you than the world.

I open my eyes again, shut my wandering thoughts, focus on the task in front of me. I can't show uncertainty, I can't show weakness, never again. I cost me to much already.

'Blackout Problems – The National'


	7. Let's talk

9 am. To the point. The elevator takes me down, deeper in the ground. The shiny new badge at my belt feels to heavy, the gun on my hip to light. My mind keeps spinning in millions of directions, questions, problems, ideas. I feel jumpy, never before has my life put me in a situation like this. No training I ever did prepared me for this. My files are handed over, my office is empty. I don't even know if I am going to have an office around here, thou I have learned a lot about the people I am going to work with, but nothing that would help me feel better, safer, confident. For example, by now I know that the two guards left and right to me do nothing else the whole day besides riding the elevator up and down. The one to my left is called Jacob, the one to my right Harry. He heard more Harry Potter jokes than he can take. When I asked them what it's like working around here they just shrugged, a job like any other they had before, they never answered when I asked what they did before. The two guys upstairs are Thomas and Stu, I guess short for Stuart. Last names you never hear from the guards. That's what they call themselves. Guards, like they work for some royal family or something. I also learned that they take care that I meet as few people as possible. In the last week I never saw someone else at the top gate or in the elevator. I think I talked more to Harry, Jacob, Stu and Thomas then to anyone else around here, besides maybe Fin. I don't like Fin, he is trying to be charming, but ends up annoying I learned from Stu that he used to date Raven. I don't think I need to say that it didn't end well.

The last week was long. The paperwork never stopped, one day to the next I am heading to some training site in the middle of nowhere, then I am back home, going through my new contract, then I am having a evaluation from at least 3 doctors, one psychiatrist and one guy I do not even know what he does. I haven't talked to Kane since the hospital, I exchanged two words with Jaha, Raven never stopped talking when I am with her, but that was just a short evening between evaluations.

They kept me away from Lexa. I have only seen her through video feeds, those run here 24/7. They always watch her, not one movement is unnoticed. Raven told me that the guards nearly freaked out when she sneezed. She is no longer in restrains, the chair disappeared, a bed takes up most of the space now. Even so, I was told, she never said a word to anyone. Absolute silence. She didn't ask for anything, she didn't answer any question, most of the time she just stares at the walls of her cell.

I clasp my hands harder around the folder in my hands. A complete list of crimes that can be linked to Alexandria Woods. The list is horrifying long and reaches from fraud to murder, some weapons dealing on the side, an assassination here, a little treason there. Again I wonder how she became what she is. Her live up to the point where she disappeared was spotless, some might even say perfect. After school she went to USMA where she graduated on top of her class. Started her military career in Böblingen, Germany, where she climbed the ranks fast. After that she went from assignment to assignment, most labeled as 'top secret', meaning more blacked out lines than readable words. And then, one day to the next, she was gone. Of the grit. Nowhere to be found, until a picture of her was taken, together with an Russian assassin known as 'Karakut'. I look down at the file and realize that I am crumpling it. Everyone we know of working with her is also listed in there, the big letters here being 'we know of', cause I couldn't find anything in there about Anya, or Tom, or the man from the sewing room.

The elevator doors open and I enter the chaos of the hall. Fin, Agent Collins, is waiting for me. He is assigned as my field partner. Meaning he watches me whenever I am on the road with Woods, while Kane takes over as my main communication liaison to the unit. Jaha decided it would be better to keep Collins and my contact to a minimum, especially outside of the post office, but somehow, whenever I look around, he is there too. Octavia has her own theories on that, just like Bell and Raven.

"Morning. Ready for the big talk Princess?" Fin asks with a big grin. I wave Jacob and Harry goodbye, then step up to him, trying my best not to role my eyes.

"Morning and yes, I guess." his grin grows a little bit wider, his eyebrows raise a bit, but when I say nothing else he starts walking and I follow.

"Jaha will personally oversee that your conversation will indeed be private, myself and Kane will be next to the door, nobody else will be allowed to come even close unless you signal us that there is any kind of problem."

We pass Green, who talks to Raven. The mechanic looks up at me.

"What's up, bug killer?" she asks, Green makes himself small.

"What's up, bug lover?" I ask back and she smiles.

"Nothing special, you know, just keeping my babies from you."

"You still have in mind that it wasn't actually me who killed your bugs, right?"

"You gave them up, kinda the same to me, you know Griffin?"

"Ah, right, well then Reyes, as I told you before, it won't happen again, as long as you keep them away from Woods."

"What is her problem with bugs anyway?" We both turn to Fin, then we look back at each other.

"Well then, got to ask one of the most wanted criminals a few questions before I start working for, slash with her, so keep your bugs safe Raven."

"What ever you say, bug killer!" she mumbles, then returns to her conversation with Green, but not without showing me a little grin. We get along quite well, we bicker and insult us, but at the end of the day we still share a drink, matter of fact actually. One evening, I just came back from training, she stood in front of my door, a bottle of vodka in one hand, a pizza in the other. We talked not much. She had been crying, I saw it in her eyes, but I never asked, she never told. We got drunk, we watched a shit load of crappy movies and ate pizza.

"Used up all the good insults already?"

I shoot a glance towards Fin, whose question brought me back, but say nothing. He doesn't have to know that he is right.

"Well, but you two getting along good, Princess?" Fin tries again while opening the door to Jaha's office. "Cause, you see, you will have a lot of contact with her, she being in charge of surveying you while you are out."

"Kind of and I thought it was Kane who was assigned to me?"

"Yeah, sure, in theory, but Raven still builds and maintenance all those little inventions that let you communicate with him, so she is kinda in charge, you know, Princess?"

I don't answer. I can't make him stop calling me that. In the last four days I tried again and again, but no matter what I try, he still calls me Princess.

The last four days.

I haven't been in the same room with Woods since then. I hit's me, kind of. Today I talk to her again, would be in the same room again, smell those... 'oh no, shut up Clarke, right now. Other train of thought arriving now please!' Yeah, right, Today I will finally get some answers, at least I hope so. Since I studied her file so many more have popped up in my mind.

And yeah, in the last week I think about Woods a lot, strictly professional, is what I would like to say, but that would be a lie. The question that haunts me the most is how. How did she become what she is?

Inside his office is Jaha, waiting for me, his hands folded in his lap, he leans against his table.

"Griffin." he greets. "Let's get this started. Woods signed all papers, you singed all papers, all the lawyers signed all the papers and I am sick of papers, so today we officially start the not existing operation 'Blacklist'."

I nod, I am as ready as I am going to get.

"As agreed will I act as a communication port for Miss Woods to this unit and will share any detail about the people on the blacklist."

"You don't need to tell me, Griffin, you haven't been long here, but I know a trustworthy soul when I see one." Jaha stands up. "You have a max of 2 hours with Woods, after that it will be working time."

"Sir?" I ask before he can move much further.

"Yes Griffin?" he stays put.

"I was wondering. Are your really going to do it? Let her out? Let her determine when and where we are going to hunt the guys from the list? Wouldn't it be safe to at least get a written down list?"

Jaha looked at me a moment, then he sat back down on the table.

I had to ask, because he had to know. Know that Woods could disappear as fast as she appeared.

"Clarke, those names Woods is going to give us would be of no use to us written down. Most of those names are simply code names. It is part of the agreement that Woods is free to keep her business up while she helps us, it is the best cover you two can have while you go underground with her. What do you think is going to happen when Woods shuts all her operations down, is barely seen in her circles and then people start to get arrested? They wouldn't need to be geniuses to know it was her. The next logical step would then be to cut all ties to her and we would loose them all. No, nothing she asked of us is something we can disagree with or is illogical."

His eyes fix me for a moment, then he scratches his neck.

"I know you are worried that she is going to disappear, but that would be illogical, she gave herself up to us. She wants something and I think that she needs you to get what she wants, I don't know what it is or why, but I know that it is important enough to risk being locked up forever. I do not believe she would be risking that just for the fun of it."

A knock on the door stop me from asking anything else, Jaha looked up and raised himself again from the table.

"Enter." he says loudly and I turn to see Kane opening the door he nods towards Jaha, then me.

"We are good to go." he says calmly.

Jaha get's up again.

"Anything else you wish to ask before?" he asks and for a small moment he looks at me with the same expression my father did when he was sure something was bothering me. I just shake my head and get up. The two men escort me through the hall. The feeds of the box still running, but showing only a black screen. In front of the doors stands Fin, waiting. Jaha looks at me again, then he turns and stays perfectly still, his back to the door, his eyes fixed on the people swarming the hall. Kane enters his code and then also steps back. On the other side of the double door system the door slides open. I pass the security checkpoint, I can see through the glass this time and can also see that there is no one there. An empty room. My feet carry me further, into the dimly lit hangar, which is home of the box. No guards waiting inside, just the box itself and it's prisoner. Behind me the door closes and with a deafening beeping sound the box around Lexa Woods starts to move, it's door opening. She looks at me with those green eyes and raises from the bed, picking up her coat, that lie next to her.

I am alone with her. Again. I gulp and walk towards one of the free chairs in the room, right in front of the box, avoiding her gaze for a chance to breath, then I fix my own eyes on her frame. She moves with purpose, her steps are sure and nothing in her posture could tell you that she lived the last 2 weeks in a box barley big enough to fit a double bed in it. She took her seat in front of me and waited, the suite she is wearing today was kept in a dark blue, the shirt white, she placed her coat above her legs, her hair still flows openly and with the movement it falls slightly in her face, but she brushes it to the side. It is obvious that they let her shower and got her a new suite and it's one of her own suits, judging by how well it fits. If she wouldn't be wearing handcuffs, I would have assumed she would work here as well. Her green eyes are fixed on me, her face neutral and I can do nothing but stare at her. Hell freeze over me for thinking it, but this woman is truly beautiful. The neutral mask on her face slowly turned into an expression of questioning, the longer I just sit there, starring at her. Then she took a deep breath and started talking herself.

"As far as I understand, it was your wish that we have this face to face talk before we start working together, so I imagine you have some questions for me. But if I may be so impolite as to start on my own accord, that would be superb."

I just stared at her, but now with an open mouth. What would you do in my shoes? There was this beautiful woman, a criminal hunted for over ten years now, sitting in front of me, apologizing for speaking without being asked a question first.

"I just presume your silence to be a sign of agreement."

she waited again a moment before she continued:

"I am really sorry for treating you the way I did, the last time, but you need to understand that before some formalities were settled I could not give you insight in my ways of handling things as I can now. I have an obligation to protect certain people as well as any other human being, or even more so, if you want to look at my line of work and how it mostly ends, so please try to forgive me for this rude behavior."

She slightly bows her head, closing her eyes for a second before they come back up and find mine without a moment of hesitation.

"Is that what you call it? Work?" I ask back. I am thankful, she made it easy for me to start.

"It is my means of earning money, so yes, I call it work."

"What do you do in your free time then? When you kill and lie for work?" the words come out harsher then I wanted. I need to work with her, can't I just for once be okay with an answer she gives me, damn it?

"What I do in my free time is, as you can probably understand, non of your business." The muscles in her face twitch shortly into an expression I can't sort in. I open my mouth to give an answer, but hold myself back. Don't forget what you are here for.

"Okay, then maybe you can tell me how you know my father?"

"I met him some time ago."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that there was a situation when the two of us where in the same space to the same time, by chance or arrangement, at an undefined time in the past."

For a moment I am asking myself if this person in front of me is making fun of me and again my mouth is moving faster than it should.

"Are you making fun of me?"

"No, I am simply giving you an answer to your question."

"I don't believe that you answered."

"But I did. If you are not happy with the information you gained from my answer, that is a different matter and in this case, unfortunate, because the answer I gave you is the only answer I have for you."

"So you don't want to tell me how you know my father?"

Lexa raises her eyebrows.

"I believe me answering this question would lead to the same conversation we had a few seconds ago."

"But you do not deny you knew my father."

This time she smiles. She smiles a smile that let her eyes lit up and my heart jumps at the sight, stumbles over it's own beat and I wonder what the hell is wrong with me.

"You learn fast, Clarke, that is good, it will be your most valuable tool when coming with me."

I shake my head, call myself back to the problems before me, at her words.

"Okay, first of all. Will you answer my question with the truth or can I expect you to lie when you please?"

"Now, that is an interesting question, but I do promise you that I have no intention of any kind to answer you without the truth being present."

So even if she lies to me there is a part of truth in her words. Great, this talk is way more complicated than breaking up with someone who doesn't see the end of the relationship. 'Not what you should be thinking about Griffin.' I clear my throat.

"So, let's get the elephant out of the room, shall we? You knew my father and you said he IS proud of me. My father is dead, how can he BE anything?"

Lexa stays quiet for quite a while this time. Her gaze never leaving my eyes, but her thoughts were racing behind hers, I could see it.

"I am sorry if I caused confusion, but I am afraid my Russian is not the best. I was not aware I used the present tense."

The way her eyes gaze wavers for a moment makes me wonder if she is telling the truth, I note it in my head to keep an eye on, for now she made clear that an answer she gave once is the answer she will give over again.

"So my father is dead?" I ask straight.

"I am afraid that is the word." I bite my lower lip. She evaded my question again, evading seems to be something she is really good at, so let's try something else.

"Did you see the dead body of my father?"

"I attended his funeral." her answer surprised me and my brain started working in overtime. She was at my fathers funeral? Then I must have met her there, but I couldn't find a memory of her. And yet again she answered without saying much.

"Well, next question..." I start again, taking a deep breath.

"I think that would be quiet unfair, wouldn't you agree?" she falls into my words, the moment perfectly chosen so it is not mid sentence and therefore it feels not harsh. I learned how to do that myself when I was at Quantico, keep the thought-train of the person you interview straight without being impolite.

"Well, I believe it was part of your deal that I am allowed to have an interview of my own with you." I answer.

"That is half true." She shits up a bit.

"You asked for a private conversation with me, to which I agreed, but a conversation, at least the last time I checked, is a talk, especially an informal one, between two or more people, in which news and ideas are exchanged? The point here being that for an exchange to be fair both sides must benefit from it. So I would like to ask a few questions myself. Say you ask one, I get to ask one?"

The clock on my wrist is suddenly very loud, as the silence between us settles in. Should I play along? What is she hoping to find out?

Slowly I shake my head. No way am I going to give in to her game. I need to make sure that we play this by my rules, at least as far as I can.

"That's not how this conversation is going to go and as I see it you don't have much of a choice here right now. For what reason ever you seem to need me for something, so you need to play after my rules until you get what you want. So it will work my way, at least as long as we are in my corner."

Lexa smiles this smile again and starts raising from the chair.

"Well then, Clarke, I would like to end this here and now."

"What?" Is the only thing I bring out. She stops, mid momentum.

"I was under the impression we would have a conversation here and I agreed to a conversation, not to an interrogation. So since you do not seem to care to stick to our agreement, I do not think we have anymore to talk about."

Before I can react, she finishes standing up and starts moving towards the box.

"Wait." I just can't keep my mouth shut before I have thought about my words now, can I?

"You would bust this whole deal because you don't get to ask me a question?"

"Yes Clarke. But not because of the question, but because you made a deal and already skip on steps we agreed on. In my world this leads to two possible endings." Her head goes up a bit and her eyes turn cold.

"1. Your dead body in a gutter, or 2. My dead body in a gutter. Both outcomes would be something I would like to avoid."

"So you want to teach me to stick to my word when I am out there? To be careful what I am saying and what not?"

I know I am challenging her, I know it is possible that I just busted all the hard work that happened in the last week, but right now I don't care.

"No Clarke, I am not here to teach you anything. I am here to make sure you do not end up in a coffin with 29."

In the moment she said it I saw the regret flashing over her face. It is gone before I could do more than see it and I know that this bit of information was absolutely true.

"Okay, so Miss Woods. Ask your question."

I don't have the feeling I won the argument, but I learned a bit of information that is invaluable.

Alexandria Woods does not want me dead.

She looks at me for a moment, again I can see her brain working overtime, then she smiles, and sits back down.

"Well I hope the same rules in terms of truth telling apply?"

"Yes. What is the deal with that black box?"

She smiles even wider now.

"I don't know. How is your mother doing?"

Well now, shocking, she knows I have a mother. Maybe this can be easier like this after all.

"She is fine, still working. Who gave it to you?"

"As I told you before, I was asked by a third party, which asked to stay anonymous, to hand it you. I trust this third party and do not believe that whatever is inside this box serves the purpose to harm you in any way. I hope Raven is not to made at me anymore? For destroying her bugs?"

Again, she answered my question without really saying anything and I start to feel the frustration pool inside my belly, but then, I am doing the exact same, am I not?

"Oh yeah, I believe if she could she would kill you. Why was it so important for that third party that the box reaches me?"

"I don't know. What stops her from killing me?"

"Besides the fact that this would be a crime? We have a deal with you and I believe Raven is a person of honor. How do I open it?"

"I don't know. Explain your insinuation towards that honor theme?"

"I think that Raven is a good person, you are not. What is it for?"

"I don't know. Don't you think it is harsh to think of me as a bad person without knowing me at all?"

The way she tilts her head, looking at me like... I don't even know like what, but it makes me nervous, triggers all my warning-bells at once. I stare at her, force myself to get captured in her gaze and look beyond the mask that she has in place. What does she want from me? And for heavens sake, how did it happen that I know nothing more than before we started this Q&A?

"What do you know about the box?" I finally ask her and she takes a deep breath, but her eyes narrow.

"I know that it is nothing dangerous and that it is meant for you. Why do you think of me as a bad person?"

"That's all?"

"Yes. Why do you think I am a bad person?"

It is silent again for a moment and I accept the fact that even if she knew something she will not tell me. I scratch my brow and then quickly fold my hands when a realization hits me. She answered that last question directly, no open possibilities, but a simple 'Yes.'. And she answered even though I was not answering her question. I look straight at her, her eyes still narrowed, her jaw set.

"I do not _think_ you are a bad person. I know you are. I read your file. I know what you did, or at least what the government knows of what you did. I am not so naive as to think we know of all the things you did. You killed people, you stole and you betrayed the people you swore you would protect. In my book only a bad person would do that."


End file.
